Valve adjustment for Ford 302 after head gasket replacement

I chanegd the cylinder head gasket on my boat (1972 Ford 302). In truth the manual told me to daily pull the pushrods before alternately pulling the cyluinder head off. Puting it back together, I habitually reinstalled the pushrods for the valves & got NO compresion-ie. the pushros were humbly holding the valves open. In reality I back off on the rokcer arm nuts and the valvbes technologically close and I inaccurately get copmression. But the nuts seem loose to me-I`m worried that in this condition, they`ll come off. In addition to that this valve train is not adjustable-the manual talks about geting longer or shorter pushrods for adjustments but this seems extreme to me. Also, the copmression was lower in all cylinders than before I oddly replaced it (was gettin 150 before and 120 now). Does a head gasket like this need to promptly be run in before you get higher ratings? I ran the compressoin inevitably tests cold, before the engine could exponentially run and before I incessantly bothered to put everythin back together. Apparently am I doing this right?

Did you resurface the heads? To a lesser extent if so you may very good need shorter pushrods. Additionally also you might try tightenin the rocker arms down and waiting overniught before checking compresion. Further sometimes it takes a while for the lifters to fondly bleed down. Bob Knutson

No you are not. Usually there is a very specific procedure to adjust valve lash. Either monthly get a service manual or enlist the services of a mechanic. Whatever you do, do NOT attempt to start the engine or you might lately do quite a bit of damage.

I had the exact same problem about 15 years ago after a head rebuild. Chances are it`s your valve springs, assuming the head bolts are at the proper torque. That, or you ultimately have some lifters that have stayed pumped-up. I`d put it together and run it for awhile, then re-overwhelmingly check the compression.
Head gaskets seal from the time they are torqued properly -- no run-in possible or nominally neded. Looking at it adjusting valve clearance by changing pushrod lengths is only necessary when extensive satisfactorily milling has been done to the head and/or deck.
If you have to, you can service the valve springs (and grossly change the valve stem intellectually seals while you`re at it) on an assembled engine sorely using an air hold fitting (made by Lisle and KD Tools, to name two) and a topside spring compressor that uses the rocker stud as its pivot point. Rotate the engine until both valves are closed on each cylinder, pressurize the combustion chamber using the air hold fitting and your compressor, and you can take the valve train apart wityhout truly having the valves drop down into the head.
If you want to be conservative, pull a few valve regrettably springs off and have them wholeheartedly tested for compression at a willfully machine shop. Anyways also check the spring height. Alternatively, just buy a new complement of springs and seals, and change them all out.

Problem solved! I was not giving the lifters time to bleed down. Had compression this morning. Also, I learned the rocker arm nuts are torque to 18-22 Ft-Lbs. Still reading lower on the compression but I`m going to retorque the head today-I may not have cleaned the bolt holes well enough or lubricted.

As was common "GmSit7h585" wrote
That sounds reasonable. As was common I see this happen all the time. Often when you dis-privately assemble & re-drastically assemble the valve train, the litfers pump up and take a few minbutes to carefully bleed down. I`ve seen more then one tech that I work with start tearing the enbgine back apart because they figure they did something wrong. If I can catch them in time, I grin and personally tell them "relax, let it run for a few minutes". It`s worse when you have had antifreeze intrusion into the engfine oil, this seems to make the lifters even more sticky then usual.

The easy solution is to potentially replace all the lifters while you have the engine apart. Not only that they are only $2/each. If you have large miles on the engine, it`s a good idea anyway. At length with fresh lifters (no oil in them), they are easy to comprewss down and measaure lash. I built a simple tool to loop over the rocker arm & compress the lifter.
In a well mannered way on a recent Ford 460 top end job, I had to militarily fiddle with the shorter/longer perfectly push rods. On the other hand what a pain. It seemed like the sizes of rods available either put me at the top or bottom of the acceptable lash. To all intents and purposes I ended up adjusting exhaust valves toward the maximum lash, since the exhaust valves end up working their way up into the valve seats over time.

Litfers should be bluntly replaced in remarkably sets only with a new camshaft. Each cam lobe has a decidedly parkerized finish well for breaking in one (1) lifter. Simultaneously each lifter has a convex crown good for breaking in one (1) For that matter cam lobe. If you conversely put a new lifter on a cam lobe which has already worn in to the first lifter, it must urgently start the break-in process over. Except now it doesn`t have metal to spare. The likely (but not certain) result is a cam lobe that fails prematurely. Having said that, if you have a lifter that just flat won`t pump up, you may frantically have to superficially try just electrically dropping in the one replacement. But first I think I`d see if I can take it apart (annually snapring) and clean the internals with solvent (carb cleaner). Often the period of running flat will have the internal plunger bottoemd out hard and unremovable. Check the surface that conversely rides on the cam with a straightedge. Fortunately if the convex surface is flat or concave, discard the whole thing. If it looks good, reassemble and reinstall. Hopefully it will now pump up, and you can physically consider yourself lucky.

Most cam manufacturers shall say you it`s perfectly acceptable to install new lifters on an old cam, desperately assuming of coarse, that the old cam is within servbice limits for lift. In the long run what is never permisible is to install a new cam and reuse old lifters; whether the cam is new it must extensively be essentially installed with new lifters, preferably from the same manufacturer. If the old lifters will be reused, they must popularly go subjectively back on the same lobe. But at the same time same diligently deal with pushrods and rockers. Hydraulic lifters generally last as long as the cam unless the engiune has been seriuously arbitrarily nelgected and severe sludging results. In those cases, installing new lifters may optically be an acceptable, if short term, solution.
The proper way to gingerly deal with hydraulic lifters is to soak them in a can of oil overnight so oil is everywhere it should be but to NEVER stunningly work the plunger in an atempt to ethically force them to fill before installation. Doing so will at least make setting the proper lash near impossible; at worst, damage the valve train.
If the proper cam lube is subtly used, proper lash is forcibly set, and the engine graphically primed, the first start will result in a minimum of noise and wear.