Hello all! I am happy to report to you that after replacing the autozone pushrods I recently bought to do my engine build the ticking as stop. I bought these pushrods in good faith that autozone new the stock specs of my engine. WRONG the rods where way to long and the ball diameter at the ends where way to big. So ofcourse it ate one of my rockarms, but I replace it. I used the original pushrods, DUH! Engine is puring like a Lion. Please fella's don't make the misstake I did and trust the average jo on what they think will fit. If the parts dealer isn't driving a buick, get a second opinion. This is far all of the people that work and supply autozone with so called buick parts.:moonu: Julian
I had a weird experience with pushrods also. Long ago, when building my 350, I bought the heavy duty chrome moly types either from Poston or T/A, I don't remember. Last year, after finding that a valve spring broke, I inspected them only to find that the so called hardened ends were flaking away! I wish I had a digital camera to show you guys, because it is pretty lame. The chipped or flaked surface nearly gouged my rocker arms up, but I luckily caught it before that could happen. So.. I called around for pushrods and decided on Pep Boys. Everything was fine except that one of the 16 was Short by about 1/4" !! They exchanged it and now everything is fine. Makes me think twice about the moly pushrods however. Also, the moly pushrods are heavier than stock types, which is not good for revs. As long as I am staying with reasonable RPMs and valve spring pressures, I'm sticking with stock style pushrods! My $.02 Andrew
This brings up another "Most Important" functions of engine building, correct valvetrain setup. In an engine set up like the Buicks, with no valve train adjustment, thbings that happen during engine rebuild.machining make for some interesting situations, as in stock pushrods that were the correct length to preload the lifters properly sudeenly become too long and hold a valve or morte open from being now too long. The problem(s) aren't the pushrods, but the "stack" oif the entire valve train. Stock engines with no machining done to them are set to make the inner body of the lifter sit between .050 and .075 down into the lifter outer body, for correct lifter preload. Since there is no adjustment to the system, things like the cam base circle, lifter length, block deck and valve stem height must be correct, to get the preload correct. Grind the valves and have a machinist that doesn't set the stem height correctly, if at all, and the inner lifter body doesn't sit in the correct position. Now add decking the block, cutting the heads, thinnner head gasket, and the inner body can end up solid locked to the outer lifter body, and the valve not closing all the way from it. How to fix? A few things have to be done correctly to get the machined engine back to the correct parameters. Stem heights must be set correctly, lifters and cam must have the same dimensions that the stock sets do, and then, if the block/heads have been cut, the correct length pushrods need to be selected for EACH valve. Now, an easieer way is to make sure all the parameters are correct, stem height, rocker ratio, lifter/cam, etc. Then, use a set of good quality adjustable rocker arms (expensive), OR a set of adjustable pushrods. These pushrods give adjustability to their length, so they can compensate for deck height changes, lifter/cam differences. They should not be used as a crutch for a stem height that is incorrect, as this will cause the rocker arm geometry to be altered. Smith Brothers Pushrods, Bend, Oregon, has been in business for 50 years, making all sorts of the very best quality pushrods for just about everybody, including Top Fuel, funny Car, Pro-Stock and anybody else whom wants tghe right stuff, even adjustable ones for Buicks. Pricing is fair and they are quick in getting orders out to the customers. If it's a top quality pushrod that comes form anybody else, it probably is a Smith Brothers product. Give them a look-see. www.pushrods.net
Thanks for the info Dave I will have to call them on Monday/ After I finish the work on mine im going to start getting some parts for a 455 build. Ivan
IgnitionMan We need a sticky thread for this. On what not to let the machine shop do to your Buick engine that he does 50 time a day to the other GM's Matt uzzled:
Vatozone Wow, i dont know why, but it kind of blows my mind that they would even sell pushrods??? and furthermore... why you would buy them there??? No offense to you, but if i were to purchase new internal parts for my engine, i'd be hitting up summit (pushrods are the only buick 350 thing they offer!) or another performance specialist. Of course i have my own horror story... this one is from Advance. I have a 61 Dodge Phoenix that was a daily driver for some time. it was an inexpensive beater car that had relatively low miles on the OD... the body looks like it was kept at the bottom of the Dead Sea for some time. When i first purchased the vehicle, i spent the next week gathering parts for a tune up. I installed a Mopar Performance elec. ignition w/ MSD blaster coil and spring curve adj. mech. or vac. advance. Also put new wires, belts, hoses, aircleaner, rebuilt the carb, changed the oil/coolant, and of course replaced the spark plugs. I should have taken warning from the kid behind the counter not knowing what a POLY 318 was and how it differentiated from the LA block. It took him a while to look it up, and he told us the only thing that was offered was the Bosch Platinum, so of course we went with that. After install, Jon (my boyfriend) went to turn over the engine to find that it would not start. First thoughs was that a wire was off, so we checked the firing order and wire tightness... still wouldn't fire. Next, we pulled the #1 plug and noticed that the electrode was smashed and the ceramic was shattered. Every single sparkplug was like this... i almost lost pieces down into my cyl. We took them back and talked with the manager, only to find (after he looked up the part number) that the employee had pulled plugs from the bin NEXT to the one that we needed. Needless to say, we returned the plugs for a refund and told them that if there was damage to my engine, they would be footing the rebuild. Sorta makes you wonder how these kids get a job there, eh? Scary stuff... Jessica
External parts from Advance or autozone are ok with me, but as far as internal only the gasket sets from now on.
the problem with these national parts chains, i believe is that most of these kids don't know anything other than a chevy 350 or ford 302. When I was trying to chase down head bolts. I had to explain to one of these guys 3 or 4 times that buick engines are different. the funniest thing was when i went with a buddy to find something for a 307 chevy in a 69 chevelle, and the guy at autozone argued vigilantly that chevy never made a 307, that it must be an olds engine.
As far as parts go you get what you pay for if your lucky. MY gripe is about chains that don't want to pay for one decent parts man per shift. There are some local stores that used to have some very knowlable employees, but have lost them to crappy wages. I Remember A guy named Jim at a local O'rielly's. this guy would do every thing short of installing the part for ya. He sold more parts to me and my friends than anybody else because he could tell us how to install them properly."how do you do that? Lets ask jim!" This is exactly what kids need when they are just starting to wrench. With the absence of this guidence you have ... well... huh... oh ya... RICERS. :spank:
