Lifters were ticking on my new 54 so I adjusted lash proper. Still had ticking at 5 and 6, rocker shafts came off and I found that they had dug in. Wiggled valves while the shafts were off and most were loose. Had great compression (130#) and 30# hot oil pressure at idle so I figured that the bottom was good and it just needed a head job. Before I yanked the head of I was watching it run with the valve cover off to see how many bent rods I have and it doesn't seem like much if any oil gets to the rocker nose. Is there a modification that helps this or are they designed as such? Had 2 options while getting some head job parts for my 235, copper shim coated and fiber re-torque type. Opted for the copper style. Anyone use one of these? Also anyone know of a dealer that sells just rocker shafts and individual rockers instead of a whole ***m'?
When you tighten up the clearances it will pump more oil up (or should).Iron head and iron block I would have used either head gasket with no problem but would have prefered the copper.I know Kanter auto parts has those shafts and rockers,but I bet if you search online you can get them for less money.
Also consider a set of rings while the head is off. The '54 (only) blocks are notoriously soft, and I've seen them go from not using oil to a quart a day because of the added load on the rings. The high comp. reading doesn't seem to matter, they just quit sealing. You'll also want to look at the lifters & cam lobes - don't mix 'em up ... and an aluminum cam gear is good insurance when the cam change gets done.
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