I almost made it

[studelover]

Well, I got my Stude chrome and all the little things taken care of when I got back on tuesday from the International meet. I started the car and it purred. The motor sounded like something super natural. I was heading down B/W parkway when I heard a tapping of the motor. Well after about 10 min. it got very loud. I pulled over and the right bank rocker assembly sounded like little Richard in a cheap dance hall. I turned around and went back to my mechanic we pulled the valve cover off and found that three of the adjustment screws where way out of adjustment. I went down to my garage and got a rocker assembly from my other motor and brought it to him. We decided that we would work on it tomorrow because we need some special solution chemical that would stop the new screws from backing out. I was up there Tuesday and met some of you however I wanted to bring the car. I almost made it[^]better luck next time

Studebakers forever!

[StudeRich]

Really sorry to hear that Rodney, you know what they used to say..."The best laid plans of Men"...

StudeRich
Studebakers Northwest
Ferndale, WA

[PackardV8]

Hi, studelover,

Bummer. Rocker adjustment screws backing off has thankfully not been a problem for me. Perhaps I've just been very lucky with the dozen or so V8s which I've driven thousands of miles. Does anyone have an opinion of what would cause three screws to suddenly back out on this engine? How many miles had it been driven before this occurrence? What work had been done on the rocker arms recently?

thnx, jack vines

PackardV8

[starliner62]

I recently had a problem with a 289 having the wrong pushrods. They were too short. I probably could have used them, but the rocker adjusters would most likely have backed out. There was not enough interference in the threads to keep the adjusters in place. You might want to check the pushrod length.

Jamie McLeod

starliner62
Hope Mills, NC

[studelover]

When we broke the motor in you could here them after about 15 min. of running. We all thought that an adjustment was inorder anyway so no one sweated it. We heated up the motor real good and adjusted the valves again and got it to sound nice, then after driving it just the same three sounded off again. those rocker screws must be weak. They are on the same side lucky for me I have another motor with all parts needed. I wonder if ther are any fully restored rocker assemblies up in lancaster right nowoh boy imagine just bolting on a new assembly and then go[:0]

Studebakers forever!

[studelover]

The heads where rebuilt and the assebly was taken apart and cleaned, I think this problem existed in the motor before I got it maybe why it sat.

quote:Originally posted by PackardV8

Hi, studelover,

Bummer. Rocker adjustment screws backing off has thankfully not been a problem for me. Perhaps I've just been very lucky with the dozen or so V8s which I've driven thousands of miles. Does anyone have an opinion of what would cause three screws to suddenly back out on this engine? How many miles had it been driven before this occurrence? What work had been done on the rocker arms recently?

thnx, jack vines

PackardV8

Studebakers forever!