Pushrod guide plates too tight?

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gregsdart

gregsdart

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I am putting SBC rockers on a set of Magnum EQ heads, and the guide plates are too tight. I could go into a rant, but it won't help. I can hear the guy on the tech line at Comp- gee, we've never had that problem before! I wish I had a dollar for every time I've been told that!
So the question is, how do you clearance the plates without screwing them up?
 
gregsdart said:
I am putting SBC rockers on a set of Magnum EQ heads, and the guide plates are too tight. I could go into a rant, but it won't help. I can hear the guy on the tech line at Comp- gee, we've never had that problem before! I wish I had a dollar for every time I've been told that!
So the question is, how do you clearance the plates without screwing them up?
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why not clamp them in a vise and take a file top them? I did that on some I had .
 
ou812 said:
Did you try re positioning the guide plates by loosening the studs and moving them up towards the intake face?
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I will try repositioning them. Some are just tight trying to put them in, and I believe I had them straight and against the back of the slot. Won't be able to get back to it for a few days though, too much stuf going on. Brian, the good news is the Dart went 8.910 and 8.909 on a test day, the next day it went 8.899 and 8.894. I think I am getting close on consistency!
 
yellow rose said:
Are you sure the pushrods are a bit oversize?
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I will check. The guide plates seem to be inconsistent in size. I will check that as well some how. I trust my parts source in this case, they build a lot of motors using these.
 
Guide plates are typically stamped. We've to to elongate the mounting holes one some to get them to line up, mainly on Ford applications. Measure the slot and the push rods and be sure the geometry isn't causing a bind.
 
I bought another set of guide plates because I damaged one of the originals. I used one pushrod to check all 16 slots. There was one plate that had enough clearance out of the new set. All the rest were tight, either just a little, some a lot. A little sandpaper made quick work of clearancing them as needed. A piece of 500 grit polished them were I clearanced them.
 
OK, so I thought I had the problem resolved. Not quite. I put the guide plates back on, and still too tight. How could that be?
Turns out the plates were bent somewhere in the manufacturing process, and when they are bolted down they flatten out, and the part of the guide plate that is bent over to provide a wider spot for the pushrods twists enough to tighten up the clearance. I found it after trial fitting them loose on the motor, and after being torqued down they were tight again. I put a pushrod up against one in the light, and sure enough, a nice curve in the plate! I wound up putting each plate in a vise to flatten them while sanding to fit.
 
gregsdart said:
OK, so I thought I had the problem resolved. Not quite. I put the guide plates back on, and still too tight. How could that be?
Turns out the plates were bent somewhere in the manufacturing process, and when they are bolted down they flatten out, and the part of the guide plate that is bent over to provide a wider spot for the pushrods twists enough to tighten up the clearance. I found it after trial fitting them loose on the motor, and after being torqued down they were tight again. I put a pushrods up against one in the light, and sure enough, a nice curve in the plate! I wound up putting each plate in a vise to flatten them while sanding to fit.
Click to expand...



That's weird. I can say I've never ran into it.
 
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