Assistance predator 224 rebuild

[jason.talley161]

Hello, I am at wits end with this thing. I keep have my push rods dislodge from my roller rockers 1.2. I have set lash perfectly at TDC and it will run fine for about a minute but the rod just pops out and it dies. To be honest it's my first motor rebuild and issues at every corner. I was thinking my rods were to short so I removed my billet Guide plate since it added some much height but it still dislodge. I don't want to pull the damn thing apart again but I feel that something is wrong. I am using a 275 cam with 5.5mm valves and a 6969 Arc billet rod with a 70mm flat head piston. I been doing it for 2 months and slowly so I wouldn't mess up but here we are.

 

[Hellion]

Hang in there, we got some real engine nerds here but they're all asleep!

 

[Damiango]

Your push rods are likely too short or binding with that setup. Removing the guide plate can make them pop out more easily. Check the push rod length at full lift with the rocker and lifter installed and make sure the rods stay centered. Slightly longer rods or a proper guide plate spacer usually fixes this without pulling the motor apart again.

 

[panchothedog]

You certainly don't need to pull the engine apart. Everything can be done by just removing the rocker cover. You didn't say what brand of rockers you purchased, but if you go to the " Gage " website ( the company that manufacturers the best,
and also the most expensive roller rockers ) they have a very instructive video on how to determine correct push rod length. Aftermarket cams as well as roller rockers usually require.A different length push rod. FWIW, I have built several of the predator engines, including a couple of the 224's. Some with Gage ratio rockers, and some with the Champion shaft mount rockers. Properly set up, you
DO NOT need to run a guide plate. I would recommend that you don't. Watch the video. You'll get it figured out in no time.

 

[panchothedog]

What are you setting valve lash at? Also, what strength valve springs are you using?

 

[jason.talley161]

26lb springs and .003 lash on both intake and exhaust.

 

[jason.talley161]

I am already using 5.340 push rods. Out of all my research it seems that these would be the longest rods people have used

 

[panchothedog]

26lb springs and .003 lash on both intake and exhaust.

That's dead on. Please watch the video I referenced in post #4. Maybe they are
too long.