Trying to decide on keeping stock pushrods or just avoid pulling oil lines and everything else associated with getting at the pushrods while changing out my camshaft. If I go with adjustable, S&S, Fuelmotto or SE ???

Any thoughts ???

 

You asked for opinions-
There is a reason for adjustable and that is why I use them and have not ever had any trouble.
Other people for whatever reason have had them come loose.
Me?
In 50 years not ever.
In fact, adj PR were std issue on the old iron heads.
They never cam lose and turned much faster RPM.
SO............if you are not ever going to take it apart again maybe OEM style are for you?
as for me, I use velcro nuts and bolts .....it comes apart often.

 

Adjustables have been around forever, the SE are well made and easy to use. Pulling oil lines and rocker arms is way too much effort and brings there own set of precautions.

 

These have been my thoughts exactly. I'm just tired of looking at shelves full of brand new parts that I have replaced on a brand new machine. If I keep building this beautiful piece of art, I just might end up with something big enough to use as a boat anchor. I'm thinking of going with the SE adjustable. they have a nicely tapered end that will be helpful in rocker arm clearance if I decide to rebuild with a high lift cam in the future.

Thank you King and Six for your help in moving me in the right direction. I'll save the hassle of dealing with the oil lines until I do some top end rework. After about 30k miles I might like to go to 124"

Can you please explain some of those precautions you would be concerned with when pulling rocker arms?

 

Some folks have cracked the shaft stands, the holes are blind so you need to make sure the holes are clean of any oil and make sure the cam is on the base circle when you loosen/tighten the shafts. The early motors had shafts that would get a wear pattern at the stand contact point. The oil lines are just a big mess. Like any rubber hose on a nipple, the hose takes set and prone to leak if not put right back where it was.

 

By shaft stands, I'm assuming you are referring to the head casting that the rocker shaft sits on. A saddle casted as part of the head. I can see how ANYTHing, especially a little oil would crack this when torquing. When you say base circle, do you mean to have the motor at TDC compression stroke so the valve are closed and there is no pushrod pressure on the rocker arms?

 

Yes, and alternately working the bolts.

 

FWIW..... Several of the Techs on the other forum (HTT), report that they are starting to use ARP Studs, in place of the OEM bolts, to minimize the chances of cracking the shaft stands....

 

Studs are not going to do much to stop the cracking of the rocker stands. The same force is still being pulled by the stud as the bolt into the same area, no difference. Now if you cross thread the bolts that's different but the issue comes from over doing it since the HD casting will not take it, even if using a stud. The early shaft issue is a bigger deal than replacing the bolts with studs and putting a little lube on the bolts reduces the friction but you need to be very careful to try and make sure the shaft bolts are being tighten when the pushrod is ONLY on the base circle of the camshaft. Trying to draw the valves open due to camshaft position pushes the shafts and rocker sideways and raises the force on the casting well above what it likes. Only torque the bolts to the lower side of the specification as I've had people put everything on and snug the bolts and turn the engine over with no issues. Then come back to do final torque on the bolts only to crack the stands.

 

Thanks for the information... and clarification

I'm not an expert, and have never had an M8 apart. I just filed the cracking rocker stands info, into my mind (and on my computer) for future reference. I suspect that one day I will add an M8 to my garage, and doubt I will leave it stock....

It appears that several techs believe that the studs will mitigate the cracking, but I didn't really know how or why.

On my TC bikes, I have converted the cam plate dowel bolts to studs, and can see how that could help avoid stripping those bolts, so I wasn't sure what to think on this one.

Thanks again..