62Cometman
Well-known member
So after getting all the valves and spring and attachment hardware cleaned and the valves lapped to my head I'm finally cleaning the rocker arms and shaft and pedestals. Now to be fair my rockers look like they've been in use since the 60s with a few possible missed oil changes in between. 
So before I put it back on the head they're far over due for a clean and most likely modification as per FPHB instructions,
now comes my question, that I'm most likely over thinking. In the FPHB it says to drill out the 3/32 oil hole on the "valve" side to 1/8 inch. I'm assuming that refers to the side that points towards the valve assembly that's offset on one side of the rocker.
Also to get these bad boys clean I had finally used my tax return on something I'd like and got a Ultra Sonic Cleaner from Harbor Freight and I figured i would give my thoughts on how well it works. I got the cleaning powder that they specify to use with it took it home. The unit was super easy to set up and i decided to start it off easy by cleaning the bolts for the rocker set up and i put in warm water and threw in about half a teaspoon's worth of cleaning powder as it suggests. Then I turned on the heater setting and set it to the longest setting of 6 minutes and walked away, I came back after 6 minutes and the water was dingy like after you wash the dishes but not too black. I ran it 2 more times just to be sure, this time the water was almost black. It was at the point of trying to remove the tray with the bolts on it that i realized that the heater does not automatically shut off at a certain temperature as i nearly scalded my hand attempting to get them out. After some clever use of long needle nose i removed all the bolts with a sparkling finish the unit was success as per my standard. Thought that's like saying running from the car to the garage while its raining is the same as completing the Boston marathon :roll: So now the real test cleaning the grungy and nasty rocker arms with baker on oil and all sorts of fun. So this time I decided to be brave and mix in some de-greaser instead of the cleaning power I got with the washer. Luckily my local hardware store sells simple green in large concentrated jugs. I mixed a roughly 8:1 set up for the rockers and pedestals and only sprayed them off with some brake clean to get a majority of the lighter gunk off. After the first round the water which looked like green kool-aid to start off with was now more like a dark forest green milk but i figured they still weren't quite ready yet so i ran them 2 more times and then realized the water was now almost brown in color so i removed the rockers and WOW this thing is awesome it removed just about all of the built up gunk on those rockers leaving them like new condition and i couldn't be happier. Honestly this was a worth while investment to me for just getting these clean. It's so easy you just put them in, set it and forget it check back in after a few and run it again all the while you can finish other projects.
Here's the link to the one I got
http://www.harborfreight.com/25-liter-u ... 63256.html
So before I put it back on the head they're far over due for a clean and most likely modification as per FPHB instructions,now comes my question, that I'm most likely over thinking. In the FPHB it says to drill out the 3/32 oil hole on the "valve" side to 1/8 inch. I'm assuming that refers to the side that points towards the valve assembly that's offset on one side of the rocker.
Also to get these bad boys clean I had finally used my tax return on something I'd like and got a Ultra Sonic Cleaner from Harbor Freight and I figured i would give my thoughts on how well it works. I got the cleaning powder that they specify to use with it took it home. The unit was super easy to set up and i decided to start it off easy by cleaning the bolts for the rocker set up and i put in warm water and threw in about half a teaspoon's worth of cleaning powder as it suggests. Then I turned on the heater setting and set it to the longest setting of 6 minutes and walked away, I came back after 6 minutes and the water was dingy like after you wash the dishes but not too black. I ran it 2 more times just to be sure, this time the water was almost black. It was at the point of trying to remove the tray with the bolts on it that i realized that the heater does not automatically shut off at a certain temperature as i nearly scalded my hand attempting to get them out. After some clever use of long needle nose i removed all the bolts with a sparkling finish the unit was success as per my standard. Thought that's like saying running from the car to the garage while its raining is the same as completing the Boston marathon :roll: So now the real test cleaning the grungy and nasty rocker arms with baker on oil and all sorts of fun. So this time I decided to be brave and mix in some de-greaser instead of the cleaning power I got with the washer. Luckily my local hardware store sells simple green in large concentrated jugs. I mixed a roughly 8:1 set up for the rockers and pedestals and only sprayed them off with some brake clean to get a majority of the lighter gunk off. After the first round the water which looked like green kool-aid to start off with was now more like a dark forest green milk
but i figured they still weren't quite ready yet so i ran them 2 more times and then realized the water was now almost brown in color so i removed the rockers and WOW this thing is awesome it removed just about all of the built up gunk on those rockers leaving them like new condition and i couldn't be happier. Honestly this was a worth while investment to me for just getting these clean. It's so easy you just put them in, set it and forget it check back in after a few and run it again all the while you can finish other projects. Here's the link to the one I got
http://www.harborfreight.com/25-liter-u ... 63256.html
I didn't drill it out like i did the front and I have assembled the rockers and pedestals, not that it would be hard to take back apart again. Also i know its not much but would drilling out the hole effect my oil pressure? I'm running a new melling pump so hopefully pressure should be higher than average. Also my new pump came with a much shorter pump drive shaft than the original but my original does show signs of starting to round :x does anyone know where a new longer shaft could be sourced? Could i theoretically get a hardened hex 1/8th inch piece of rod and cut to length and bevel the edges right?