Slick 60's - How to adjust FE hydraulic rockers

Ford Performance

By Pat Ganahl

How to adjust FE hydraulic rockers

Ford FE motors run really well when you upgrade from the non-adjustable hydraulic to adjustable solid lifter rocker arms with hydraulic a hydraulic cam. This provides the motor with 2 distinct advantages. It eliminates the old bent push rod syndrome and the adjustable rocker arms have a fulcrum advantage over the non-adjustable type. Adjustable rocker arm ratio is 1.76:1 where the non-adjustable units are 1.73:1. It doesn't seem like much, but it is.

So here is the procedure from Pat's book verbatim.

"If you use the adjustable rockers with hydraulic lifters, here's the 'official' method for setting the valves:

Bring the number one piston to TDC on the compression stroke. Bleed the intake and exhaust lifters to the fully compressed position. Then adjust the rockers on the number one cylinder for a clearance of 0.110 to 0.210-inch (this is a typographical error *see note below) at the valve stem end. Repeat this procedure for each cylinder in succession of firing order (1-5-4-2-6-3-7-8-), rotating the crank a quarter turn at a time in the direction of normal operation."

* However, even though this is a direct quotation from Pat's book, there is a mistake in the clearance specs. The clearance should be 0.0110 to 0.0210".

There it is boys and girls. Simple and to the point. I hope this helps someone out.

"Uncle" Skip Porterfield