Guest Anonymous Posted August 11, 2001 Share Posted August 11, 2001 Before I secure my valve covers to the cyl heads I have a question...the rocker arms are new roller tip rockers from Competition Cams, made of chrome moly steel, with the standard grooved pivot ball fulcrum. Since I used up all the cam break-in lube on the cam itself there was none for the rockers, and rather than make another trip to the parts store for more(what I should have done) moly wheel bearing grease was applied to the moving parts before setting lash. Has anyone ever tried this before? I am now concerned that the pivots might actually be starved for lubrication due to grease filling the grooves. Granted the rockers aren't hugely expensive, but still cost money and would be a hassle to replace them. Any thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted August 11, 2001 Share Posted August 11, 2001 Fill the crankcase with oil in the oil pan and Prelube the engine with a drill motor and a prelube oil drive shaft and watch the rockers, I don't think it'll be a issue really, but just for your own self piece of mind. We used to assemble engines using white grease exclusively, and it worked fine. Oil heats up real quick and will turn any solid lubricant into liquid pretty quick. In the meanwhile the grease will keep it lubricated until that happens. IMHO. Regards, Lone [ August 11, 2001: Message edited by: lonehdrider ] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted August 11, 2001 Share Posted August 11, 2001 Thanx Lone, that's what I thought but wanted to hear it from another to confirm. Have you built or seen any engines with the Crane Hi Intensity lifters that are supposed to behave like Rhoads (spell that right?) lifters? A friend installed Rhoades in his lopey idling SBC Malibu and proceeded to break the transmission a week later. I assume it was the added torque that did it. High strength pushrods are installed just to make sure any added stress from these lifters don't bend 'em. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z-Gad Posted August 11, 2001 Share Posted August 11, 2001 I concur with Lone, White lithium grease should be found in any auto parts store and do the trick. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpeedRacer Posted August 11, 2001 Share Posted August 11, 2001 You might want to pick up some Crane (or similar) Engine Assembly Lube. A quote from their site: "Crane Engine Assembly Lube is specially formulated to provide extra lubrication protection to engine components during assembly, and to provide outstanding resistance to scuffing, wear and friction during critical break-in. This lubricant is recommended for use on several different engine components, such as: rocker arm fulcrum balls, needle bearings, roller tips or rocker shafts; timing chain sprockets and gears; roller lifters and roller camshafts; engine bearing surfaces; outer surface of hydraulic or mechanical lifter bodies (use Super Moly Lube [paste] on face of these lifters)." I don't know if the moly grease you used will penetrate the pores of the metal. If it doesn't the rocker or ball will fail. There is a huge amount of sliding force on those two pieces. If Molybdenum Di-Sulfide isn't properly applied to the cam as well as the ball and rocker than there is a very, very good chance that they will fail at low mileage. If it was my engine I would pick up the proper lube, remove the rockers, clean them up and re-lube them with a right Moly lube. Just my $.02 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted August 11, 2001 Share Posted August 11, 2001 I havn't had experience with the Crane version of the Rhodes adjustable lifter, I have used the Rhodes style with good luck. They just bleed down a little more at low RPM's and take some of the duration out of the cam so it doesn't lope quite as bad. If you have a borderline problem with having enough vacuum to operate brakes lets say, they'll often do the trick increasing the vacuum up just a tad. They then pump up when rev'ed. I'm sure the crane versions will work real good to. They do increase low end torque somewhat in a long duration cam, not sure if its enough to cause a transmission to fail, it was probably on its way out anyway. Regards, Lone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted August 14, 2001 Share Posted August 14, 2001 Ty all for the advice. You know I was just wondering, was break in lube available back in the 'day', like pre '70s? Didn't they just use plain old grease back then? Hmmm.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Modern Motorsports Ltd Posted August 14, 2001 Share Posted August 14, 2001 careful using prelubes with newer hydraulic roller lifters and rockers etc, the needle bearings bearings don't always like it I've been told as they can clog -I prefer to just soak/store them in oil until it's time for install, I've come across others that store parts in oil, rockers/lifters etc.... -and naturally prelube lots as suggested nice choice on the Chromolies, their price has really come down and they're a great value IMO for what you get, I run those mixed with crane golds (intake/exhaust), all rebuildable should it ever be needed [ August 13, 2001: Message edited by: Ross C ] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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