Fitzy

I can't die yet - gotta fix the car first!

Yeah, well my mother had nice olive skin and my father had white Irish/Scottish skin. Guess which one I inherited? Decades of sun worship have come to this - I have at least 3 spots to be cut out and about 10 minor ones to be treated with a special cream. It's the price you pay for growing up in Australia thru the 70s & 80s when nobody knew about sun induced skin cancer.

New rockers came with a nut I haven't seen before - it looks like I was test fitting it upside down. Anyway, I believe it to be a self locking feature. I asked Comp Cams to be sure. Cannot use the 20 lb factory method - gotta use the pushrod drag method.

I KNEW you'd offer to! Nah - all good. I have ordered new ones. Thanks anyway.

Yes, that was what I assumed. Will order new lifters today and apparently I won't need polylocks but I WILL need all those friggin' gaskets when I remove the intake & water pump. Do you remember that film The Money Pit starring a very young Tom Hanks? Still very funny and I think I shall rename my car the same.

School Free Drug Zone. Sounds marvy - I wanna live there! It boggles my mind to think how the ho's make apple butter. (Shivers down back.)

My beautiful looking Comp Cams roller tip rockers were here when I got home last night. I have been talking to Scott at Butler and he's recommended Johnson Hylift lifters AND potentially polylocks - I'll let you know what he says. The scenario keeps going through my mind - I CANNOT work out how this happened. If it was due to faulty lifters, surely the engine would have been making a racket prior to dislodging a pushrod or two. Engine ran fine. I am yet to do the checks that TwoLane suggested...had to have a skin check today and I am getting sliced up next week, so I'm a little preoccupied with that hovering over my head. Another question for the FP Brains Trust: does anyone have experience with Comp Cams Magnum roller tip rockers? I test fitted one and the supplied locknut was reluctant to go over the stud. Upon inspection of the bottom of the nut, it doesn't appear to be a perfect circle - they're all like that. If I thread it on upside down, no problem. Is it perhaps a self locking design? The included info sheet said to NOT simply torque the nuts to 20 lbs. They must now be done using the pushrod drag method. This makes me assume that the nuts are designed to be snugged down to the correct spec and they will then hold that setting. Christmas in September! This is a view of the head that didn't fail. Original vs Magnum Note thickness of fulcrum spacers: new one in foreground. And beneath, old bent pushrod vs new replacement. Yes - both exactly the same length, although with a different design at the ends of the newbie. This is a view of old & new rocker nuts. If you expand it, you'll see the weirdly out of shape design on the new one. It's this anomaly that is making the nut hard to thread on. I sure hope it's designed this way!

Thanks Andy - I thought I could replace the lifters without head removal but couldn't remember. My heads must be 65s but no guide plates present. I have asked Butler and they need to know what casting #s they are, so I'll do that next week. If anyone's interested, I found a snippet of info that might explain what's going on with lifters. Mine were Melling but I still don't know what can actually go wrong with one, except for oil hole blockage.

To answer Andy's question - heads & block deck were milled just a couple of thou to ensure flatness - not enough to influence any associated dimensions. I see you have a one piece guide plate arrangement - how did you attach that? I think I see additional bolts to hold it in place.

Yep - very helpful useful info. You know - damned if I can remember: can I change lifters without taking the heads off? Please say it is so. Two Lane's info got me wondering: how does a hydraulic lifter go bad? I understand crud potentially blocking the oil holes but there's not much else to them. Weak internal spring? Faulty plunger? Any ideas? My oil has been clean & fresh ever since rebuild, so I doubt any crud is present but you never know.

Thanks TwoLane for all your info. You can be assured I will take measurements and see what's going on. I mentioned polylocks coz that's what Butler recommended. They said that when using aftermarket valvetrain parts (I have roller tip rockers on order) the factory method of torquing retaining nuts is not going to work - danger of damage to valvetrain components. Polylocks will allow adjustment using the pushrod drag method.

Thanks for all that. I emailed Butler and will order Johnson hydraulic lifters, with polylocks and guide plates if they're available for the 389.

Um...valve spring load pressure? All I know is the machinist ensured the spring heights were all correct, so I'm guessing that means all the springs are in spec. The cam is an Ames supplied TriPower grind, so it'd be pretty mild. I also suspect dud lifters. I think I'm gonna go solids and be done with it. I'm pretty sure they were Mellings but you don't know where stuff is made anymore - they may have come from the Ying Tong Division of Mellings. Anyway, solids sound shit hot at idle! Should chuck in a 'noisy' dual idler cam drive too! It's only money. I was gonna retire, but f#ck that - let's throw it at the car instead. It's a Spondoolie Fest! I agree. I used new Mellings pushrods.

It's been a while since I visited the site - so much for 'retirement!' I am now doing more hours than I have in the past 8 years. My 3 day a week gig vaporised into 5 days on, 2 off and will continue until staffing levels are back to where they should be. The spondoolies are pouring in though, so it's time to unchain the purse strings, let the moths out and spend, spend, spend. Took the GP out like I normally do, just to keep everything lubricated and turning, got on the highway and GENTLY accelerated. All of a sudden 'CLACK, CLACK, CLACK' from the engine. I pulled over and gingerly went home with no more noise. Pulled the valve covers and I have one bent & 1 broken pushrod. The matching rockers were skewed sideways. F#cked if I know what the issue is. I replaced the cam, lifters & pushrods during the rebuild. The rockers looked fine so I reused them. I am suspecting either a lack of metal in the 60 year old rockers (have ordered new roller tip rockers) or dud hydraulic lifters, where either or both caused excessive clearance which allowed the pushrods to move sideways. I have no experience in this, so any feedback is welcome. Anecdotally, there are a bunch of bad lifters out there at the moment. I'd gladly fit solids but of course that means a new cam and all the associated labour. It's possible that the rocker pedestal press fit studs are starting to come out or a valve has stuck (unlikely since it's rebuild was only 2000 miles ago.) FYI, adjustment of rockers is to torque their retaining nuts to 25 ft lb and then an extra half turn to preload the lifter. Others say to get the cylinder to the correct TDC position and then tighten as you rotate the pushrod to the point where resistance is just starting. Some of my rocker nuts I can torque down to the end of the thread and still have pushrod slop. Before anyone asks, I eyeballed every valve as I hand cranked the engine and they all move like they should, so I don't think the cam lobes have gone to lunch. Did someone say LS3 crate motor? Or a Corolla?

What's all this about torque converter bolts??? I remember reinstalling my TC to the flex plate and was amazed that only 3 small bolts hold it all in place. It also seemed that the torque value specified by the factory manual wasn't very much - I remember feeling a little uncomfortable about what I perceived to be an underdone job when I had finished torquing the bolts and then checking them. Threadlocker sounds like a damn fine idea. I might crawl under there one day and do it again. I'll also check that they are indeed Grade 8 bolts.

Last time I needed grease caps, I went to a trailer/caravan parts supplier - perfect fit but for different car.

H2 Whoa!

I looked at my GP as I walked past it 393 times today.

Great pics, as always Frosty. My fave was the rat rod - I always loved that "I don't give a shit" look of a rat rod. Big wheels, low, big engine and the rest is rough as guts. Perfect.

Great pics, JustA. You should be pleased the cop gave you a ticket with the lesser fine. If you're polite to them, they will normally give you a break. I'm told they are actually human. I went for a drive today and our wonderful local Highway Patrol was on the side of the road pulling over caravanners to make sure the tow car's towball load wasn't exceeded. The scumbag petty crims are running around doing whatever they want, and this is what we are paying police for??? Easy revenue, I s'pose.

Nice score. I used to have a VE SS 6 speed manual ute - lotsa fun. I got it onto a deserted dirt road once, turned the traction control OFF and got it sideways in 1st. Wow - too crazy to try & control, into 2nd - still too much of a handful, into 3rd - now it's a little more controllable but going too fast by this time to be truly safe. Fourth was totally controllable but way too fast as I had trees either side of me, and still 2 gears to go. Another car I should have kept. I'm enjoying seeing the progress on the Safari - I also like all your new toy tools. With the right gear, you can just about turn sheetmetal into anything.

Well, look at those! I would love to fit a Commodore one, but how do you guarantee that the bolt spacings and so on will fit the 389? Did Delco-Remy simply make millions of the same alternator and car makers adapted to it? I am yet to do the voltage test on the car - I might just need a new regulator. We'll see. For the record, I did a quick test on the battery and it's 12.4V just sitting there, so that's a good sign. My aftermarket voltmeter might be giving an erroneous reading.

My car has an ammeter and not an idiot light...considering who owns the car, it probably needs several idiot lights! Do you know if I can hook up an internally regulated alternator to an ammeter? More to the point, I have yet to see an internally regulated alternator to suit the car. Any ideas on who might supply one? Ames sells regular alternators as does Rockauto.