I want to take down my rocker arm shafts and give them a good cleaning. I noticed that the cap inside each end is set back into the rocker arm shaft. I would appreciate any input and advice. Question: Just what is the proper way to remove these caps without having to Haki -Motto them to get em out? Also: how does one go about getting the rocker arm perches off of the shaft as they seem to be on very tight? Thanks in advance. David
I would suspect that the stands are stuck to the shaft by varnish. I would use a bit of carburetor cleaner on them, and if they are still stuck, a little gentle persuasion with a small rawhide mallet as close to the shaft as possible. They are not a press fit.
Drill a hole of the proper size & then use an ole fashion dent puller. I have replacements if needed. On the stands, you need to replace them SQUARELY or else you will end up breaking a few. What I do is remove the end rockers. As John said, use carb. cleaner to remove any varnish/buildup. Set the shaft end on the bench. Use a pair of gloves & pull all the way down on the rocker & let the spring "SNAP" it up like a slap hammer. If they are rally stuck it may take a few times, but once they start to move they will come off. If they are SO tight that "Snapping" does not do the trick use a heat gun to heat the aluminum stands. Aluminum will expand faster than steel. I also have new shafts available with slightly thicker walls in stock. Installing the stands, again use a heat gun to expand the aluminum & they will slide right on. What you don't want to do is remove any aluminum from the I.D. of the stands.
Thanks guys. I will follow your instructions and report back as to my progress. I suspected that drilling a tap hole in the middle of the cap was needed. If one does not distort the cap upon removal I guess one could reuse the cap but a new one if you have them would be the best way to go. David
Yes the heat gun helped to soften up the tarnished stands. I used the rocker and spring as a slap hammer and they cam off. Thanks! The I.D. of the stands were coated with varnish. I cleaned everything in lacquer thinner, then rinsed in kerosene before the thinner had a chance to flash and redeposit the tar back onto the surfaces. You guys mentioned that one does not want to remove any aluminum from the I.D. of the stands. Did you mean not to ream it out with drill or pick? To clean the I.D., I gently used a round light wire bristle brush with lacquer thinner to clean the I.D. of the stands just enough to get the tarnish off. I could not see wear my cleaning caused any where or removal of aluminum. My shafts show only intermittent areas of hard chrome in spots and the rest it looks as if it has worn off. There are a few very slight eccentric groves at a couple spots where those rockers mount to the shaft. I believe the shaft should be completely hard chromed and this wear may indicate a compromised shaft? I will try and post a photo. David
Update: No the shafts were taken to my machinist. I was unaware that the shafts are dark coated and what I was seeing was the result of normal spring slap marks under where the springs lay. The shafts mic out good with minimal out of round and the rockers arm bores are still within spec at .003" with specs indicating a range of .002"-.004" respectively. So I am good to go. The machinist indicated that my components indicate at the time the car was parked, a well running within spec broken in engine that had been serviced regularly and he estimated a car with around 50,000 miles on it. The odometer reads 60,000 at the moment so this helps to verify that the mileage is correct for my hibernating nailhead. I have taken all of my hydraulic lifters apart individually and cleaned them of varnish and inspected the body and plunger and all associated bit parts and ball for wear with a magnifying glass. All appear in good condition although were stuck together with varnish after sitting for so many years. With a few I had to use the heat gun on them to get the plunger to move a little. I built a plunger removal tool out of a small wood block and used two fostner bits to bore out the correct size holes that would accept the lifter and also allow the inside plunger to drop out the bottom as I rapped the block tool on the work bench. Overall it worked out pretty well. To rap this all up, I am still searching for the correct size shaft end plugs. My originals mic out around 5/28's. I have a set of plugs on my shop shelf but they are 1/10 oversize of my original plugs and are just a little too large to go in. So I need find the correct size caps or will have to weld up the holes in the originals without distorting them which will be very hard to do. This is holding things up. So Tom if you have the correct size caps I could use them. Let me know what you have as I have found out that not all nailhead shafts used the same size end plug caps due to production location within the same model years. So they vary. Things are tight with these variances. I did a test fit and a few light raps on the oversize caps and they would not go even if I were to beat on them which will not happen as it would most likely distort them. So even 1/10 oversize is too big. When I reset the originals in and use my wood dowel tool or socket to reset them they too are tight but go back easily so the fit is important.
If Tom doesn't have the rocker shaft plugs, Russ Martin should: http://www.centervilleautorepair.com/index.html
