crossflow rocker adjustment?

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i changed the lifters in my motor the other day cause one was a bit "ticky" when first started in the morning and much to my amazement when i put the new lifters in and bolted the rockers/pushrods up and tentioned them down to the right tourque setting but i noticed that some of the rockers were actually loose and crossflows rockers should have load on them and be firm?anyway this made me wonder and i just thought maybe they hadnt "pumped" up?i did soak the new lifters for 2 weeks in a container before fitting so i thought id just run it for a while and see.
anyway on start up the motor was very noisy and i took it for a 20km drive to see what would happen but the noise didnt go away???
i took the rocker cover off and still found some of them loose?anyway the only way i thought of fixing it is to gently file some of the rocker pedistool off and keep checking them until there what they should be,i have done a couple and the noise is alot better but this is a slow tedious job.
has anyone ever gone through this before?what did you do?i thought adjustable pushrods would fix it or maybe roller rockers,id like to spend little money so maybe filing off the pedistools is the go?

The best way to do it is measure the amount of clearance you have and get some lash caps fo the tops of the valve stems.

filing the pedestals as you have done will cause you issues later if you put a new cam in the engine. Your cam lobes must be worn. typically if the underside of the lifter is worn out then the cam lobe is also probably worn.

Roller rockers would be a much better way to go. A complete new cam and lifters sounds like the best fix long term. If you have cam wear then chances are the engine is getting pretty old and tired anyway so just put up with her until it is time for a new engine or reco.

sounds like the lifters were not pumped up yet. My machine shop guy who has been building stock car engines for 30 years walked me through it. I think he said that if the push rods bottom out on the lifter when it is not on a lobe then that could cause a bent rod. As long as it is somewhere in the middle you are OK, so there will be a little play. That play gets taken up when the lifters pump up.

I hope this makes sense LOL

thanks for the replies.the motor is running good now.the cam lobes and old lifters looked like they were in good shape when i looked at them and i drove the car for 3 days waiting for the lifters to pump up but it never happened.anyway im going to simply use this motor until i have another at a later stage,to me this was a strange thing to happen as i have changed lifters plently of times and never had this happen.

Could it have been just a shorter assembled height lifter?

could have been,that i didnt check.i pulled the old ones out and put the new ones in and didnt compare them.

while they rattle there not holding valves open.
when us speedway guys run hydrolic cams we run them so they rattle a touch.
only problem is they some times eat a push rod.