New motor, loose rocker...

Quick back story (sorry, this might be long). I just built this 408 in the late summer last year, did the cam break in like normal (took ALL precautions to keep a solid flat tappet cam alive), after putting the inner valve springs back in and taking a short trip to the gas station and back (~1.5 miles round trip) checked the rockers. All were fine except 1 (#8 exhaust). It was really loose…..like I had crank the adjuster down a couple revolutions to get it re-adjusted…


Here is my problem….All of my rocker adjusters are showing ~1/2 a thread except the #8 exhaust, which now shows ~2.5-3 threads when properly adjusted. This makes me nervous, like that lobe is going flat. But here is the weird part, I freaked out & measured the lobe (from the push rod) and the lobe looks fine. I compared it to others and it was about the same. I checked the oil and it looked OK (although a little hard to tell since it is a new motor), but no metal shavings. I have had a flat cam many years ago, so I know what they look like, but this one really doesn’t “look” bad as far as I can tell.


The motor literally has ~ 3 miles on it + cam break in time, and I’m in the process of pulling it to fix a rear main seal leak (first motor I ever built that leaked...Grrrr!). I’m debating a few options while I have the motor out, here is where I need help:

1. Scrap this cam & lifters and get a new one (probably the same one, Hughes STL6468AS-8).

2. Put my old small solid roller back in (248/254 @ 0.050, ~0.575 lift). My reservations with doing this is, will it work OK with my 13:1 compression and e85? My old motor that used this cam only had 10.8:1 compression. This option will also slow my car down a little….

3. Leave it and see what happens (I’m not really comfortable with this one, probably won’t happen).

Motor specs if needed:

360 block, 4” forged Scat crank & rods, Icon pistons, 13:1 compression

Ported Edelbrocks, Victor intake, Hughes STL6468AS-8 cam, Howards direct lube lifters, “750” e85 carb built by me.

Thanks in advance