adjusting lifters on 304

[javelin jim]

Maybee one of you folks can help me as I am not used to working on AMC's .I just put a new cam and lifters in my 304, the engine is at TDC, my manual says to just torque every rocker arm to 19-26 ft lbs ,I did that but it seems some of them are still pretty loose..something does not seem right>>HELP!! I need to nip this in the bud so can start this beast up and enjoy!! THANK YOU

[donsjave]

Gotta ask--- did you change to a non hyradlic (yea my spelling aint too good) type lifters ? If you stuck with the hyradlic lifters then you should be okay, however 26 lbs of torque seems a bit low. Double check your torque setting and the whatnot. Also did you reuse the old rockers or buy new ones? Sometimes when reusing the old ones, they cannot take the stress of the new cam and lifters. Also did you pump up the lifters by hand? This can be easily done by putting the lifters into a coffee can about half full of oil and taking a push rod and push on the center of the lifter until the lifter fills itself up with oil. Also check to make sure you are using the right push rods--- AMC used 2 different lenghts on their push rods (believe they changed the lenghts sometime in the early 70's) Just some ideas, good luck.

[javelin jim]

Thanx Donsjave,No I did not put new rockers in maybee I should Yeah 26lbs, of torque seems low to me too because when I took them off they were pretty hard too loosen, but thats what the Chiltons Manual says to do.Maybee I will just start it up and see if they start making noise then I will just tighten them up then......Yes, I did soak them in oil before hand and yes they are Hydraulic.......Thanx again ..JIM

[Kem]

The looseness of the valve train on the 304 may be due, not so much to the rocker arms being worn, as it is worn pivots. Alot of the AMC rocker arm pivots are cast aluminum and wear out faster then the stamped steel rocker arms. If the correct AMC style of pivots are not available, check out the 350-403 Oldsmobile rocker pivots. If you do this, be sure to check out the height of the Oldsmobile pivots mounting height and compare it to one of the 304 pivots. I have Olds pivots on my 258{had to file to correct height} but not put on my 304-401's, so check the height of the Olds pivot as this is not a direct replacement. The aluminum Olds pivots can be filed down if too high, so this is actually a way of having some adjustment in the AMC valve train if you want a tighter/looser clearance. REMEMBER, look at the Olds pivot with the 304 pivot next to each other, I may be wrong about all this if the 304 pivot is higher then the stock Olds pivot!
26 pounds of torque seems adequate for the rocker arm bolts. These are just 5/16" bolts, and if not grade 8, 26 pounds should be more then enough. Add some Lock-Tite if wanted.