240 Valve Adjustment

[Living A 67 Dream]

Are there any gentlemen out there that know anything about the 240? I've looked everywhere and can't seem to find the valve adustment procedures or the the clearences. I'm home on R&R from afganistan and have to go back in a week; the sooner I could get a reply the better. I would like to thank you gentlemen in advance for any knowledge I may be able to pick your brain for.

[NM5K]

They are adjustable, but they are not adjustable. :/
Most of those engines were designed with non adjustable rockers/nuts.
You screwed them all the way down, and the valve geometry/pushrod length, etc
should have been close enough for proper adjustment.
So if you go by the Ford method, the only way to reliably adjust the valves is to
change pushrod length.
But I think that is fairly silly.. So I convert them to adjustable by using an inverted
rocker nut on top of the standard rocker nut to act as a lock nut.
If you try to adjust the valves without a lock, and the nut is not all the way down
as designed, it will quickly come loose. But with the locknut, the bottom adjusting
nut does not have to be all the way down.
The usual Ford manual adjustment setting is one full turn down from zero lash.
But I don't like mine quite that tight. I keep mine at about 1/4 turn down from zero
lash. Zero lash is the point where the tapping quits as you adjust one while running.
I've always preferred to adjust those with the engine running.
Why does yours need adjustment? Are they tapping?

[Living A 67 Dream]

I sure do appreciate your time sir. It's not so much that they are tapping it's more of an intermittant rough idle, especially noticeable when it's cold... it seems as if the engine hits a certain spot and lugs. Almost as if I have a dead hole... However I just changed all of the ignition stuff. so it isn't with the spark setup...

[NM5K]

I kind of doubt it is the valves if they are not tapping much. Might want to do a compression
check though. I'd double check the advance and timing, but it could be a vac leak, or a carb
problem also. Can you tell if it's maybe running rich? The tailpipe would have black soot coating it.
Sometimes a leaking diaphram in the carb can cause a rough overly rich idle.
But I suppose if it was real lean it could do about the same.. Hard to guess about run problems
without being able to see it. How does it run once it warms up?

[JWW]

Here is a thread that may be helpful:


http://www.fordification.com/forum/view ... 10#p191310

[timmytim]

http://www.fordification.com/forum/view ... 10#p191310 i followed this to the T and my 240 went from running with a slight tick to not running at all.

[JWW]

http://www.fordification.com/forum/view ... 10#p191310 i followed this to the T and my 240 went from running with a slight tick to not running at all.

Sorry to hear that. The thread was meant for reference purposes. I'm not mechanic, I have to ask questions myself. As you can tell by thread, I was having trouble as well. I have my engine pulled right now, planning a rebuild. It can be tough to know how much to adjust the rockers. I remember giving to much torque on the rockers and not being able to get the engine to start. After I backed off, the engine fired up. Still, I was unable to get a good adjustment. Could not get rid of the tick.

I have heard of people adjusting the rocker arms with the engine running. I do not have the ear for it. Hopefully someone with better knowledge can help.

[timmytim]

well thats ok jww the guys in the shop say thats the correct way to adjust when you have new lifters. if you are working with a engine thats broke in good the only thing to change would be after u get the rockers to stop wiggling u only tighten down jus a hair maybe 1/4 turn not the full turn.

[fordguy63080]

That is the proper way to adjust your rockers.I don't know if this will help but with my 69 240 I would adjust and then a couple days later they would start tapping again. Found out through an old timer that the locknuts were wore out and would back off. So new lock nuts and the problem was solved. So if thats part of your problem that was my fix, Hope this helps...............fordguy

[MadMaxetc]

keep in mind that an old balancer can "slip" and not show the correct timming marks. On the 240/300 it is not a big deal as they are interanaly balanced. (Flywheel and Crank Pully are nutral balance.)

Mine is 15deg off.