Mopar small block LA rocker shaft tips and information

tips and information on how to assemble the Mopar LA small block rocker shaft assembly correctly

[@cordobatom77]

If others think they know better they don't need to watch, simple as that. But they will and still comment and that's why they're called trolls, because they troll around looking for nice people to irritate. A great deal of us enjoy your videos and more people subscribe all the time.

[@AndrewDAdams]

Thank you for the info and professional insight. I am building a 318LA and your straightforward approach helps immensely. great job.

[@slantfish65sd]

Thank you very much for the wonderful comment and thank you very much for watching the video. I really appreciate it. Appreciate you. Any further questions let me know

[@DusterGuy1970]

There are always going to be people thinking they know better. Don't worry about haters. They are just jealous of your knowledge. Keep up the great videos!!! Thank you.

[@blakenorman4822]

It got confusing trying to keep left and right straight when I had my 360 upside down taking out the pistons, ha, been a month and still haven't gotten mu block back from the machinist, as always thanks for sharing your knowledge Slantfish

[@sidewyndersshed1676]

😂 I run into this same problem each time. LOL . Funny how the mind works. 🤣

[@slantfish65sd]

Yes I totally agree with you. When the engine is upside down is it? It is hard to keep track of the left and right side very difficult. Sometimes if you have to it may seem silly but take a punch and a hammer and mark it on the block or do something as simple as using. Maybe a little bit of spray paint. Maybe green for the left side and red for the right side or or whatever. Or maybe even a couple of pieces of tape or even some marks with a permanent marker. Whatever you got to do. I've had to make myself notes plenty of times so don't feel bad keep me up to date if you could on your your 360 how you're going to build it sounds like it'd be cool

[@budlanctot3060]

In '70, I bought a new AAR. Because the carbs were so lean, it burned a couple of valves. So I had it repaired, under warranty, at a Plymouth dealer in Lynnwood, Wa. Well, they completely butchered the repair. Long story short, they re-installed the shafts upside down and galled most of the rockers & shafts. The galled pieces damaged the cam, lifters, bearings, crank, and oil pump. So people pay attention. Simply not following explicit directions on how to install the rocker shafts correctly can have HUGE negative implications for any rocker shaft Mopar engine.

[@slantfish65sd]

Thank you for watching and thank you for the comments

[@JamesTanner-um3on]

Think you for your time with your us on here man

[@briansignorelli7090]

Some replacement rocker shafts don't have the notch so you have to make sure that the oiling holes for the Rockers are properly located

[@slantfish65sd]

First of all, thank you very much for watching the video. I really do seriously appreciate it. And these replacement rocker sheds you're talking about. I've never seen them and maybe that was something there for a while when people were using. Maybe the wrong wall or something I don't know but those rocker shafts are pretty thick material. They're not 10 material at all. Honestly it would take quite a bit to break one. They're really super thick so they're not made cheaply and I've never seen one broken. Maybe that was a just a regional thing and some certain region or something I don't know. And the replacement rocker shafts may have been gotten from a dealership that got them from some manufacturer who just grabbed up a piece of pipe that was the same size and said okay. Here we go! Here's our rocker shaft anyway. But yes, the oil holes do need to be lined up correctly. That's the reason why those notches in the ends of the rocker shafter there. But if the replacement rocker shift doesn't have them those notches. And yes, you do have to line up the oil holes correctly

[@rudygarza1364]

Thanks for the correction

[@slantfish65sd]

Thanks for watching the video and thank you for your comments

[@stevencharette7918]

dont know how long uve been on YT but ignore all the scientist and critics their not worth ur time u do things ur way if they dont like it they can move on

[@artgonzalez9706]

Amazing Information when you read a book and get the proper shaft assembly correctly. Well here is my story, I have a 66 plymouth wagon that my beloved brother left me it has a 318 with a mild cam. A friend of ours built it when it was running the rockers chattered to much so he suggested some lash caps we put them on and they fell off pist man so pist so when i removed the steel valve covers there was milky oil on the valve covers so i went to check the dipstick and behold more milkshake any suggestions will help and thank you for the information on how to properly assemble the rocker shaft

[@slantfish65sd]

First of all, thank you for watching the video and thank you for your comment as for your problem there with your engine. When you're getting that much milkshake in there, that means you're getting water in with the oil. Which you probably already knew that an easy way to determine where the water is getting in to the engine oil is drain. What's in the engine out? Leave the oil drain plug out. Do not put any oil in the engine. Fill the cooling system with water. Get yourself a coolant pressure tester pressurize the cooling system. There can be situations where the head gaskets will dry out and allow leaks. If the engine has been left to sit for an extended period of time, how much time it varies? Wildly when you pressureize the system without much water in it, see if the water is coming out of the oil pan. Drain plug hole and there are several possibilities could be leaking from where the intake meets. The cylinder heads could be leaking from the cylinder heads like the head gaskets, the heads, the intake or the block could be cracked if the water starts leaking immediately. As soon as you pour it into the radiator then most likely it's not a crack. There's a gasket somewhere that's just bad or and this is kind of remote you got. Intake doesn't fit correctly and there's a pretty wide gap between the intake manifold and the intake gasket ceiling surface as for the clattering with the valve train, there could be one or more lifters that have collapsed. There could also be improper assembly of the rocker shaft and rockers. There can also be a problem with the push rods. Not saying anything bad about your friend but if he hasn't assembled the engine correctly they push rods could be too short wrong length. They're going to be a bunch of different problems. If you can send me pictures or video of this I can probably give you a much closer answer as to what is going on with the engine but these two problems aren't necessarily related. Well, they're not supposed to be related. Let's just say that if you need to send me pictures or video you can do it here, but I'm also on Instagram as slantfish

[@artgonzalez9706]

@@slantfish65sd Thank you i will try to put a video together and show you what is going on.

[@carlosanderson2951]

Thank you

[@charlesbombaugh4014]

Thanks for that information. On my 1986 flat lifter 318 I have noticed that the rocker arms are marked rh and lh. It seems that that indicates how they are assembled as the rh and lh are paired together.

[@slantfish65sd]

First of all, I want to say thank you very much for watching and thank you for your comment as to your comment about the rock arms marked RH in LH that is not always how they are assembled so don't always take that as the gospel. Sometimes they are assembled that way. Sometimes they are not

[@jgutierrez559]

Thanks for the video on this

[@slantfish65sd]

Thank you very much for watching I seriously appreciate it

[@richardbeals1403]

Easiest way to remember is as you are facing each head from each side, the rocker shaft goes on facing down and to left.

[@POSTIVETHINKING]

Hi mate best thing to do is do it the way you know best Forget what people think ✍☝

[@slantfish65sd]

Thank you very much for that positive comment. I really appreciate it and thank you for watching the video

[@williamcole464]

Isn't it strange how people get so much wrong, and then try to argue that they're correct?

[@slantfish65sd]

Thank you for watching the video

[@slantfish65sd]

Not really strange at all there's lots of people who really don't know and they want to be acknowledged that they are correct when they are not

[@randydill8094]

You were right from the start …..

[@slantfish65sd]

Thank you Randy. Appreciate you're watching the video. Also, I appreciate your comment. I just hope I can inspire you and educate you in working on these Mopar engines

[@sidewyndersshed1676]

As always, another great vid with excellent information! 👍 I do have a question, your 318 is a rollercam LA, on both of my 360 rollercam LAs (91@92) they had the exact same lifters as a magnum, and they both had hollow pushrods. Both LA engines oiled through the block/head oil passage as well as through the pushrods. I noticed this while "pre oiling" by turning the oil pump with a drill. (And rotating the crank) Have you noticed if your 318 has hollow push rods, and oils through them as well? I really can't find any definitive info that I trust on this subject.

[@slantfish65sd]

Hey sidewinder, I do apologize for not getting back to you sooner. I know I should have but really I've been looking at making a video about this subject and even though it's not a question, a whole lot of people have asked. I think it's a worthwhile subject and I really appreciate all your support and your friendship. So thank you very much and I will be putting that video out very soon. Bye in the next day or two

[@sidewyndersshed1676]

@@slantfish65sd Sounds good! I'll be looking foward to it👍😁

[@MrPigpen66]

Is there a adjustment for rocker arms ? Bought a running 340. The rocker arms on exhaust valves are not preloaded at top dead center. Think it may have a bigger than stock cam. Please advise. Thanks Richie. 1970 duster 340 engine

[@slantfish65sd]

Hey Mr. Pigpen, okay, just wanted to go ahead and say thank you so much for watching the video and thank you for your comments. Now let's get back to the engine you're going to. Need to pull off your rocker covers valve covers and see what kind of rock arms you have. If they are just like what's on the 360 that's in the video. Those are stamped steel and there is zero adjustment. Once you bolt them on that's it. The all the valve lash adjustment is up to the lifter itself now. If you aren't, if you don't have enough preload on that particular rocker arm could be that the oil pressure in that lifter or lifters in this case has bled down and that lash is now increased significantly when the oil pressure gets back up that last decreases. So that particular rocker system is totally non-adjustable now. However, I'm going to send you a picture of an adjustable small block rocker arm. If yours are like this then these can be adjusted and there is adjustment specs for them. I will give you those but I'm not going to. I'm pretty busy. Okay, I don't really have time to go through and give you all of those specs and the process on how to do them. Unless you actually really have those. So if there's any other questions feel free to ask. Like I said, see what you have first and then I will give you adjustment procedures on how to adjust them. Okay thank you very much

[@slantfish65sd]

Okay, I don't really have a way of getting photos to you of different items. Very frustrating. Okay, I'll tell you what though the rock arms you saw in the video that you watched. Those are stamped steel. The rock arm I'm trying to send you a picture of is not stamp steel. It is cast like Ford steel like cast iron and it has an adjusting nut or adjusting screw on it. They're also known as ductile iron and so if you really want those pictures, you can find me on Instagram slantfish and I can share those pictures with you there

[@slantfish65sd]

No way to really tell whether it has a larger than stock. Cam is to measure it with a dial indicator on like the rocker arm, the rock arm tip where it contacts the tip of the valve. Okay that's really the only way to tell and then compare those numbers to what is in a manual. The stock 340 cams were a little bit bigger than all the other cams for the 318s and 360s and 273s

[@slantfish65sd]

Oh one more thing. The 340s came with hydraulic lifters flat tappet and so there is a special adjustment procedure for those. Again if you need that let me know. I have it in a manual. I'll be glad to copy that and send it to you

[@SHANEO-ml3ds]

Sam, it's impossible for you to piss me off. Seriously I have daughters 😂😂😅😅😂😂😅😅.

[@slantfish65sd]

I know some of what you feel. I have two daughters myself and their twins so I share some of your pain. Thanks for watching the video. Seriously appreciate you

[@garybray3614]

assemble rocker shaft correctly. when installing on engine the notch should be in the left hand when installing. think about it. you don't need all that complication.

[@slantfish65sd]

Listen! I appreciate you watching the video and appreciate your comment. But if you can do these videos better then I invite you to go right ahead and furthermore, if you don't like the way I'm doing this, then don't watch the video okay. And another question, let me see your engines. Let's see yours. Let me see the rocker shafts you've put together. Let me see the engine you built. Okay, let's see them

[@jrfortine9055]

People are going to hate no matter what

[@slantfish65sd]

So very true

[@blairlindsay5791]

found the girl friend making that mistake , the debate was quickly settled , when I asked her , witch side the steering wheel was on

[@slantfish65sd]

Well first of all thank you very much for watching and thank you very much for your comment or your smart ass comment. You see the jokes on you because whenever you make a comment on a video, then the KZbin algorithm promotes the video even though much more which promotes that particular channel. The video is found on, so I guess you're just completely incapable of like giving an honest, good comment well anyway I've wasted enough time with you. Have a good day

[@mostlymopar]

Excellent job on this PSA for the Special Slow Learners out there.😂

[@slantfish65sd]

You know in today's world I shouldn't be surprised by this comment and I'm not. I'm just thoroughly thoroughly disappointed that people will still run down and give other people a lot of grief over. Not knowing something that is relatively common knowledge to others. I guess it just really shows your level of maturity?

[@Bulkshit]

I'm not sure if it was worth watching. You have excellent topics that fall short of content. Too bad. Maybe next time?

[@slantfish65sd]

Well bulkshit it seems you have a problem with the content that I am putting out on my channel that I work to put out that I come up with and that you are watching for free. I'm putting the work out and you're watching this for free and you're complaining about it. Amazing you've stooped to a new hello, anywho, like I've said before because I've noticed you've complained to me before which you don't seem to comprehend. Is that when you watch my videos and then you comment on my videos? It only helps my channel grow that much more because of the KZbin's algorithm. So complain away. Complain to your heart's desire. I don't really care. So anyway the joke's on you my channel continues to grow and you continue to complain oh because of or in spite of you. Whatever my channel has grown over a thousand subscribers in less than a year and that has happened twice. So if my content is so horrible, how come my channel continues to grow a little food for thought