My first post in this section, so I'll give a little detail.

I have a 2000 Neon I picked up early this year for a couple of hundred bucks, needed a water pump (that was fun) and brakes. It made a little racket on startup when I bought it (if it had set for awhile), but it went away fairly soon and I attributed it to lifters. Since then the noise has gotten a little worse, and after researching it some, I decided to pull the valve cover off and have a quick look at the rocker arms/lifters. On one of the exhaust rockers, there was a tiny bit of play, so I pulled that shaft and after looking at that rocker, found that the plastic keeper (that holds the pivot cup onto the ball at the end of the lifter) was broken, and that the lifter didn't seem to move as freely as the other. The noise, I think, was coming from the one side of the rocker that wasn't working properly smacking the top of the valve. Nothing appears to be damaged, and as soon as I get a rocker it'll be ready to go back together. And there's the problem, for me. I need to drive this car on a 300 mile trip next weekend, and the soonest I can get a rocker is probably Thursday, unless I go to the dealer (which will add $30).

Anybody know of a less-expensive and reliable source for these rockers?

Thanks in advance.

 

Ok, apparently there is NO source for these things that is both reasonable, and convenient.

So, I'm going to take it upon myself to re-engineer one of these to be an adjustable mechanical lifter, rather than these pissy little hydraulic things. If it works, I'm doing the entire valvetrain. If not....well, that isn't an option, I suppose.

I'll post pics and details when (if) it all works out like I plan.

 

I looked at this last night on one of my spare engines.

I can get you a whole set from junkyard if you need to experiment.

Meanwhile I will take a look at other engines to see if there are other ways around it.

http://www.store.partsdinosaur.com/product3338.html

For those interested here is a picture of what we are discussing.

 

I'm picking up a set Friday, to use for this. I have a design in mind, shouldn't really be too hard if I can get it to oil properly.

I'm most likely going to be banned from this forum by one of your moderators for telling him to keep his mouth shut when he doesn't know what he's talking about, so this is probably my last post to this thread.

 

Two things:
1. Quit being a drama queen.
2. You don't get banned for having an opinion. It's when you start breaking the forum rules (that you probably didn't read), that an administrator will ban you. I just get to clean up the poster's mess when they break said rules.

 

Sorry you feel that way man, just trying to help out. I admitted I was wrong...and I took steps by physical inspection to verify what you were talking about.

The cross info from many sites referring to these rockers is wrong....however they are good for 7400 rpms so not as junk as you would think....they also remove user error from lash adjustment.

Hit them with about 16lbs of torque and your done.......

You can do all the lash adjustment you want, if a hydraulic lifter is bad on one of these, it's bad.....end of story.

As far as a manual mechanical lash adjuster, I wish you best of luck, according to what i have read many professionsals in the business have tried and failed to make something reliable apparently.

As far as not knowing what i'm talking about....I just ripped an entire mtx apart and put it back together......

Shoot me for gathering info on the net referring to the rockers and the info being wrong.

 

I think you misunderstand, I'm not upset with you...was maybe a little confused about what you were suggesting, but not everybody gets everything right the first time, no big deal.

The rockers, or rather the lash adjusters built into them aren't well engineered, both in my opinion, and in that of most mechanics I've spoken with. Not saying they don't do the job for quite awhile, but they tend to start making racket pretty early in life when compared to other "lifters".

My idea isn't to add a lash adjuster to the hydraulic lifter, but rather to remove the hydraulic lifter itself and replace it with a solid type lifter/lash adjuster completely. I've already machined out the only old rocker I had to work with and gotten it ready to tap for a solid unit, I'm just trying to figure out the best way to make it work, and will post photos and progress when I get a chance.

For the other......I figured I'd be banned because I unloaded a little on a moderator, and expected him to be infantile and petty, as it seems so many people are these days, and to ban me from here out-of-hand. And to his credit, he did not, but instead unloaded on me a little, and pointed out that I might not know what the hell I'm talking about after all (which is entirely possible, of course). Again, no big deal

 

Fair enough.

I'm interested in seeing what you come up with.

 

Check this out



http://www.youtube.com/user/CuzIAmTh.../7/dwv5WRrpmPc

So basically he was simulating a very high lift and duration cam.

Doing this required 2 1gn valve covers welded together for clearance reasons

 

Looking at the rockers he's...modified...that's pretty rudimentary compared to what I have in mind. I've bored out both of the sockets on the exhaust rocker I'm experimenting with and have cut down the top so it's level with the top of the rocker arm itself. This took out the two oiler holes, but I'll re-drill these at the same angle, but at a lower position. I'll machine a bolt (round and polish the bottom, and cut an oil passage around the top) to use for a lash adjuster, and this should keep me from having to build a valve cover with more clearance. The only problem I foresee is finding a locknut thin enough to use on the bottom side of the rocker...I don't want it on top. I may find it necessary to cut some material from the bottom of the rocker so the nut will recess enough to clear the valve when properly adjusted.

I have no clue what that guy was attempting. The video didn't explain and it really didn't make much sense.