1970 Cadillac 472 RWD rocker arm question

[Scot Minesinger]

Winding up this mechanical restoration of our 1970 RWD 472 SDV and the valve cover gaskets leak, so I am replacing them.  In so doing I wiggled the rocker arms and 12 of them are real tight and 4 of them are not.  I have rocker arms (fantastic used ones in my garage) that I bought from MTS a year or two ago.  Car ran very well before we started work and has 35k miles.  Should I leave alone or replace the rocker arms with great used? 

We will be driving this car for a while and probably add 2k miles per year or so.  Interested in durable, reliable and good running car.

["Cadillac Kid" Greg Surfas 15364]

Scott,
Check the rocker arm pivot bolts.  Also thru the motor 180 degrees and see if the same RA's are loose.
Greg Surfas

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

G'day Scott,

Some will be loose, and some will be tight, especially those that are being pressured by the lobe lift of the cam.

If the engine hasn't been run for a while, the internals of the lifters could have eased their internal fluid pressure, but by the look of them, everything looks really nice in there.   No black gunk.

Bruce.

[1969cadillac]

hello!

rocker arms were a wear item on these engines , and the shafts

unscrew them , keep them in order , and look at the surfaces where the valve stem rides , and also the pivot , but esp. the valve stem . the valve ends can also wear . replace the worn ones , make sure that when they are screwed down that the lifter leaks down - if it don't - you could bend a valve when you start it up!

Also used the correct 10W 30 oil and keep your sump full!

in correct , thick oil may not get to the top of the engine!

I had one of these cars in the early 80s and the valve train was very noisy - I took it apart , and everything was SHOT - including the valve stems!!

my belief was that it had been run for many years with incorrect / low / dirty oil!!

Murray Mules