The old slant had been running rough for a while so I popped the valve cover to give it a valve adjustment. Got everything adjusted fine, but noticed a couple of the screws didn't give me that familiar 'snap' when first turning them. Engine ran smooth right after. About 3 months later the engine is running rough again. I pop the valve cover and some of the valves are out of adjustment again, mainly the ones that don't snap when I turn the screws. Adjust everything up and she's running smooth again. It's been a couple months since then and now things are starting to run rough again.

Is there some sort of fix I can do for this? Thanks.

Yep, those rockers have worn out and it's time to replace them with another set...some people have done a last ditch effort and smacked the rocker at the screw with a hammer on a metal surface to deform the stamped rocker so it binds the screw a bit, but it's not a permanent solution (and can break the stamping if it's in not great shape).

Got a spare head you can rob a few out of?

-D.Idiot

Dang yeah I can't risk doing that on my daily driver. Guess I'll have to put an ad on the wanted board.

Is it easier just to swap out the entire assembly as a whole? I've never done it before.

It's just like an abacus, remove bolts, take the rockers and spacers off and lay them in a row in front of you...replace the bad ones, and restring them back on the shaft then replace.

Pretty easy.

-D.Idiot

Remove the screw entirely and deform the threads ever so slightly. Ball peen hammer would work. Just don't get too carried away that you can't get the screw back in. This should work well and stay.

I believe the aftermarket offers adjustment screws that are like set screws - female allen head at the top with locknuts.

You can add 3/8"NF "half nuts" to use as lock nuts.

Half nuts and deformed.......lots of choices

_________________
Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....

Loctite.

Thanks a lot guys, I'll probably give a go and see if I can slightly deform them without going too far.

If the "Out of adjustment - Running rough" are on exhaush valves.... I would be watching for valve seat recession.
DD

Finally got around to it and pulled the rockers the other day and did some hammering. I might not have hit them hard enough because I didn't want to risk damaging them but they're back in now and everything is running good for the moment. The exhaust valves were all tight. Are those signs of valve seat recession Doc?

One thing I did notice was the little mark indentation on the rocker shaft was pointed toward the back of the engine while the FSM said it should be toward the front. This is a crate engine and it's been like this for 50,000 miles so I didn't flip it over just in case. Plus I was running out of daylight and it's my daily driver so I had to get everything buttoned back up. Is this cause for concern?

hi esp- have had this same problem with two sl6s in my past. on the first one i scored the threads slightly of the non snapping rocker screws and solved the problem. on another sl6 a few years later i replaced 3 non snapping rockers and also solved the problem. the doctor, the DI and pierre have the right idea. the doctors caution to inspect valve recession is possible, but never experienced that on a slant. by the way any chance you might have seen somewhere in america a f body 4 door or wagon with sl6 and 3 pedals on the floor? bet you remember our conversations on this a few years ago. still looking for one . nothing in florida. bet that brown wagon we talked about which you looked at for me has disappeared. figure california would be the best supply given the huge car culture out there. will have to hop a fast train if you find a needle in a haystack for me. best regards bob f

hi esp- have had this same problem with two sl6s in my past. on the first one i scored the threads slightly of the non snapping rocker screws and solved the problem. on another sl6 a few years later i replaced 3 non snapping rockers and also solved the problem. the doctor, the DI and pierre have the right idea. the doctors caution to inspect valve recession is possible, but never experienced that on a slant. by the way any chance you might have seen somewhere in america a f body 4 door or wagon with sl6 and 3 pedals on the floor? bet you remember our conversations on this a few years ago. still looking for one . nothing in florida. bet that brown wagon we talked about which you looked at for me has disappeared. figure california would be the best supply given the huge car culture out there. will have to hop a fast train if you find a needle in a haystack for me. best regards bob f

Thanks Bob I still keep my eyes open for any 4 door manual cars. You would think CA would be a good place to find them but our smog laws have killed off almost every vehicle from 76-90. Other than that one wagon I test drove for you, I've only seen one other Volare and it was a 2 door auto. The only people around here that drive cars like that are tweakers because it's all they can afford. The car guys don't buy those cars up because they'd have to smog them and it's just not worth it.