I got a quick question. I have seen the posts about shimming rockers. My question is this. Are you shimming the rocker arm assembly for side to side movement? If so where can I get shims?
I am chasing valve train noise. My bike was whisper quiet before the conversion to the new roller chain with an Andrews 21N cams and new B lifters. After the conversion there was a lot more noise. I reinstalled the original lifter and the noise went away and stayed quiet until about a month ago. We were at Ohio Bike Week it was HOT and while riding to Sandusky I noticed valve train noise. More noise than I have heard in a long time. After enjoying the music downtown we were heading back to the hotel. When I started my bike there was a hard bang from lifter area .There was no other noise bike ran fine but had the newly acquired valve train I heard on the way there. The next morning same sound at start up. I have not heard the bang noise since but I do have the valve train noise I did not have before.
I am thinking I might have a slightly bent pushrod does this sound plausible. I am thinking I had a lifter bleed down that caused the bang I heard at start up and perhaps now the bent rod. I just bought a new set of Comp Cam 850-1 lifters and am going to buy a new set of pushrods.
I asked about the shimming since I will have the top end apart I wanted to check clearance and shim if needed. I checked the end play last time and it was within the .025 tolerance.
Thanks

 

Address the pushrod issue first. Comp Cams lifters are supplied by multiple suppliers and unless you got some from Delphi, they won't be any better than what you are running. Spring for a set of Woods directional lifters or HQ Black Ops and you can pretty much elminate lifter bleed down as a source of any valve train noise.

.025" is out of spec for rocker arm end play; I believe .013" is the max. You can shim them down to .004" but should use SS shims that are at least .010" thick so they won't wear down and end up in as flotsam in your oil. If you go the shimmng route, have the rockers trimmed in a lath so the ends are flat and true. Measure firsts and have them trimmed so you can use the thickest shims to set the end play and shim to the thrust side of the rocker arm. You can find shims at McMaster Carr and order online. I doubt that shimming will help but if the end play is truly .025", it might.

While you are at it, check the rocker shaft to rocker arm clearance. If that clearance is out of spec, they will make noise.

 

You can also use Shovelhead rocker arm shims. Custom Chrome, Drag Specialties or Vtwin parts you can get shims with a different thickness