BBC 489 build

[Craig Nedrow]

I scoured the shop looking for my pushrod length checker, bugger lost it I guess. I made this from 3/8 crs, turned the end to 5/6 and radius with a file. 1/4-20 ready rod, made one two, and one three inches long, and a nut for a lock. Other end bottomed out tight. Worked well. Exhaust need to be 8.9, intake 7.9, called Summit and had to talk to tech as these are non standard. Maddox was very cool dude, has a 70 Chevelle with a 454 and t56, kinda like I am doing with the 64 Nova, so learned some from our 44 minute conservation. Gotta say Summit racing has the happiest people, to talk to. I ordered Manley brand push rods. That is the last of the internal parts. One ARP head bolt had a bad head, so called them and will get it tomorrow, then the head is done on torque. Getting there. If you look closely, you can see where the roller lifter is centered on the valve stem.

 

[Craig Nedrow]

Manley push rods, very nice, weigh 73, and 83 grams each. I did not have any interference with rockers to valve cover. All studs torqued 45 ft lbs, guides adjusted, and tightened. Lash is .035 down from 0 backlash, so I went to 7:00 o'clock. Soaked the Johnson lifters B-4 installing. Shot brake clean down each pushrod followed by air. Installed them full of oil. Rainy tomorrow again, so will gasket match the intake manifold tomorrow. More to come....

 

[Craig Nedrow]

Cleaning, painting all the front end accessories. For now, I will use the old system, but may change if those darn vee belts squeal, hate that. Ok for girls though....just sayin'. Here is the engine at end of day.