EA81, Solid Lifters 

Okay so currently my engine is out of my car, there were really no strange previous running symptoms, other than a bouncy idle, but I would attribute that to the stupid carb. Anyways, I was looking at my pushrods today, and it looks like at least two of them have very noticable bends in them. Should I be worried? There was no bad symptoms before I took the motor out that would say I had a bad pushrod, I kept the oil level at the top. How would I replace them? I cant find spare pushrods anywhere on the web. Should I just leave it alone and hope nothing happens? Even if I could replace it, can I do that without taking the heads off? (I just did a head gasket job a few months ago and dont want to have to do all that work all over again) 

Okay never mind... my pushrod is definitely shot. I was looking down the bore, and I rotated it up and saw that it had bent so much that the edge of the bore has almost completely eaten through the rod.     

And it looks like I have two other bent ones. Okay, so what am I looking at here? Will I have to redo my HGs again? Is it possible to take the rocker arm bolts off and put them back on without ruining the HG?  Or will the torque change ruin them? IIs there anyone who can sell me a set of rods for my engine? This project was supposed to be done a week ago, now it looks like I wont be done for another two weeks with this problem. 

No, you do not have to pull the heads. Do need to pull the valve covers off, but sounds like you've done that already.

 

Do need to loosen the lash-adjusters on the rockers. That will let you remove the push-rods.

 

Fairly certain I have a set of EA81 Solid Lifter push-rods. Give me until the weekend to check on that.

No, you do not have to pull the heads. Do need to pull the valve covers off, but sounds like you've done that already.

 

Do need to loosen the lash-adjusters on the rockers. That will let you remove the push-rods.

 

Fairly certain I have a set of EA81 Solid Lifter push-rods. Give me until the weekend to check on that.

Yeah valve covers are off... that is how I can see the rod is bent. Darnit all... I shouldnt need to resurface the heads right? it was just done in October.

Okay awesome!  CrazyEights might also have a set so let me talk with him a little so you dont have to dig around a lot just to find out I got them from him. 

Any ideas what could have happened? Could miss adjusting the valves do this? Do pushrods go bad often? 

Would it be a bad idea to reuse the intake manifold gaskets? They are only a few months old and they are OEM

Yeah valve covers are off... that is how I can see the rod is bent. Darnit all... I shouldnt need to resurface the heads right? it was just done in October.

Okay awesome!  CrazyEights might also have a set so let me talk with him a little so you dont have to dig around a lot just to find out I got them from him. 

 

Not finding the push-rods. May have sold them already and don't 'member dong so. I be Old, so I can do that........

Any ideas what could have happened? Could miss adjusting the valves do this? Do pushrods go bad often? 

Hi! What could have happened is that maybe when you mounted them, you did it outside the rokers, so when the engine started, they bent and came in the correct place. You can reuse them. With a hard rubber hammer you can hit them to be straight again as  much perfect as you can. Roll them on a plane surface to detect small bends. I did it that way and my engine is running perfect. Once you mount them, be sure to put them inside the hole in the brokers and rotate them as you can notice that them rotate smoothly.

Hi! What could have happened is that maybe when you mounted them, you did it outside the rokers, so when the engine started, they bent and came in the correct place. You can reuse them. With a hard rubber hammer you can hit them to be straight again as  much perfect as you can. Roll them on a plane surface to detect small bends. I did it that way and my engine is running perfect. Once you mount them, be sure to put them inside the hole in the brokers and rotate them as you can notice that them rotate smoothly.

Yeah that sounds like a very likely possibility...