Rocker Support Pedestals

[56FJ]

G’day all. I am in the process of converting my L series grey rocker assembly to the later version which uses two long bolts to secure the support pedestals to the head rather than the earlier method of one long and one short. Question: does it matter which way round the pedestals are installed? The later pedestals have “Holden” embossed on them and when fitted one way the word “Holden” faces up but when rotated 180 degrees it faces the other way. Both ways seem to fit okay. I bought them second hand and when they arrived they were a mixture of both so I have nothing to go on. Workshop manuals (both FB & FE) plus Master Parts catalogue aren’t any help. Thanks in advance.
Cheers, Ken

[ardiesse]

Ken,

Third attempt at reply. Attempt One vanished into the aether when I pressed "submit". Attempt Two also vanished into the primordial chaos on pressing "submit".

Restart computer.
Log into forum.
Salvum me fac, Domine . . .

Yes, it matters which way around the pedestals go. Figure 6A-20 of the FB manual is your guide here. It's not easy to tell, but the rocker shafts are not centred in the pedestals, but instead offset to the "valve" side, away from the "pushrod" side. You'll be able to see what's going on by using a "valve rocker shaft locating pin and plate", Part 10 of the exploded diagram 6A-31 in the FB manual. If you insert the pin into the small hole on a centre pedestal, you'll see that the bolt holes only line up for one orientation of the plate.

Make sure all the pedestals are around the right way. You'll be able to tell by looking at the shape of the machined outline on the top of the pedestals. It's not symmetric.

Make sure also that the pedestals are a real fight to get onto the shafts. Loose fit means noisy valve gear.

By the way, you are using all late (long/long bolt) shafts and pedestals, aren't you? Do not play mix'n'match with early and late components.

It is good practice to reface the rocker arm tips before reassembly, particularly if the rocker arm tips bear deep marks of the valve stems. If you re-use rockers with badly worn tips, you'll chew bits of metal off the outside of the valve stem tips (how would I know this, you ask . . .).
The ball-ends of the adjusters also develop "nipples" from wear. File these off. Your engine will run more smoothly.

Rob

[56FJ]

Awesome. Thanks Rob. That all makes sense. And thanks for persevering and finally getting your post up. It’s only by chance that I have an FB shop manual to refer to. A mate had a clean out of his workshop and asked if I wanted it for free, otherwise it was going into the waste bin. Anyway, that bit of luck means I can see what you’re saying when referring to the offset and to the symmetry of the pedestals. Thanks again. Cheers, Ken.

[In the Shed]

Nice work Rob

Handy to know these little tips. No doubt these parts look identical to the average Holden owner but not so…….

Regards
Stephen