Technical pushrod adjustment ford 302

so i just finished doing a head gasket job on my 73 ford 302 and now its time to adjust the pushrods, how do i adjust pushrods on this 302 on some forums im reading that i just torque them down and thats it? right now im on tdc on 1 cylinder and i torque all of the rocker arm nuts to 20 foot pounds, is that all i do? if i try to spin the pushrod with my finger on cylinder 1 they dont spin at all, is that how it should be? and heres a pic how its set up and the kind of rockers i have

 

'73s do not have adjustable valvetrain. I know this because I have a '73 302 (as well as a '68 302 with '66 289 heads which are adjustable). Torque the rocker arms to spec and forget it.

 

To adjust the valves on a 302 (also a lot of Ford engines) you have several options: select different length pushrods, get a set of adjustable push rods, add shims to the rocker fulcrum. Haven't done a 302 in a while, but adjustment depends on what has been done to the engine. If everything is stock and it has the original rockers and pushrod and the valve stems are at the original install height and the heads have not been milled then you should be able to just tighten the rocker bolts down. If things have been changed than the clearance needs to checked to within spec. The last engine I worked on was a 460 and on it you collapsed the lifters with a tool on the rocker and checked the clearance between the valve stem and the rocker tip. It was adjusted with shims under the rocker fulcrum. Each lifter has to be on the heel of the cam to test it. After testing all of the valves for clearance you will know what size (length) of pushrod you need. If they are two tight you will end up bending the pushrods and hopefully that is all that happens.

 

You've got the 'rail' rockers, which should be non-adjustable. Easy way to tell is look at the threaded studs the rockers mount on; if there's a 'step' at the top (the threaded portion is smaller than the lower part), you simply torque the nuts and go. No step, they need to be adjusted as per the factory manual...

Two things to note: replace all the rocker arm nuts with new, as the stock ones don't like to be reused (they can loosen up). And check the clearance between the 'rails' on the rocker tips and the retainers at full lift if you've had a valve job done. Machine shops will 'dress' the valve ends and if they get carried away the valve can get too short, allowing the rail to hit the retainer. This leads to ****ed valves....