LiveandLetDrive

Well first off, against my better judgement I have been using stock, unhardened pushrods with my World Sportsman 2 heads and compcams guideplates. While the valvecover was off this weekend, I noticed that one pushrod had actually worn its way into a guideplate! Isn't that a little backwards? It's about 1/4 of the pushrods diameter into the plate, so I need to replace it pretty soon. The pushrod doesn't even look scratched!

Did CompCams improperly harden this one part?



-Chris

Fevre

What caused the rod to ride against the plate?

MotorHead

You better fix the reason why it was rubbing

lostpatrolman

My hardened pushrods wore into my guideplates. I took the engine back to the machine shop and they realized they installed the wrong guideplates.

gkull

To correctly install guide plates you have to do a job of best centering.

I like to use black hard drying sealer. It works as a glue, drys hard, but you don't have to heat the part up to remove like you sometimes have to with thread locker like "Locktight"

put it on the studs going into the heads. Only tighten the studs to the point where you can tap the guide plate back and forth under the studs. Install the pushrods and rockers. Tighten them down to loose lash and rotate the motor over. Adjust the guide plates until you find the best center of both pushrods.

I've ended up with angularity of the pushrods where they rub. Then the fix is cut the pushrod slot bigger. I would not worry about replacing it. You just need to center it better.

gkull

I almost forgot. Once it's centered. Pull the rockers off and TQ it to spec and let the hard dry set up.

Wrencher

[QUOTE=gkull Then the fix is cut the pushrod slot bigger. [/QUOTE]

Anytime I install a higher lift cam I enlarge the head guide slot. With a guide plate you don't need the head slot, there is no binding (friction losses and damage), but you still need to align the plates when you first assemble them on the heads. I also use aftermarket pushrods that won't handle that type of interference.

Hans

LiveandLetDrive

I've had them off before and did not think to center them properly. I will do that. I guess it just rubbed for so long that it finally wore through the outer hardened surface, after which it wore through much faster. I think this because I have adjusted valves several times since the guideplates were last loosened and there hasn't been any wear until now. Or perhaps they've come untorqued. Thanks guys.

I still can't believe that nothing has happened to the pushrods...

-Chris