Anyone know the tightening sequence for the rocker arms for the 5.3 afm? is it the same as the non-afm? The chilton manual (it doesn't differentiate between afm and non afm) says rotate to TDC on the compression stroke for the #1 cyl, tighten intake 1,3,4 & 5 exh 1,2,7& 8 to 22lbs spin 360 degrees then int 2,6,7 & 8 exh 3,4,5&6. I did like they said too but the crank comes to a stop then I pulled a little too hard and bent 8 push rods. I'm I better off ignoring the book and tightening each cylinder when it is at TDC on the compression stroke? Btw, the way I found TDC on the COMP is that I stuck a nut driver in the #1 cycl to feel when the piston reached the top on the stroke after the intake valve opened. is this correct or is there a better way to find it?

another related question. while torqueing my head to 22 lbs on the first pass the torque wrench clicked to early on the #1 bolt because of the lock tight which I didnt discover until I had completed my 2nd pass of 90 degrees and was starting on the final pass of 70 degrees. I went back and torqued the #1 bolt to 90lbs then completed the 3rd pass.
Advice please: Should I take the head off and replace the gaskets and bolts then re-torque, replace just the bolts and re-torque or leave it like I have it?

thanks for reading.

 

this is what the book says.

Rocker arms and bolts. DO NOT tighten the rocker arm bolts at this time
Rotate the crankshaft until number one piston is at top dead center of compression stroke. In this position, cylinder number one rocker arms will be off lobe lift, and the crankshaft sprocket key will be at the 1:30 position. If viewing from the rear of the engine, the additional crankshaft pilot hole (non-threaded) will be in the 10:30 position. The engine firing order is 1, 8, 7, 2, 6, 5, 4, 3. Cylinders 1, 3, 5 and 7 are left bank. Cylinders 2, 4, 6, and 8 are right bank.

 

The safest way to tighten down the rockers, is to understand what the base circle of the cam is. Each lobe of the cam has a section that will cause zero lift to its adjacent lifter. Rotate the crank a few times (with no rockers on) and watch the pushrod. It will go up, then down. Just make sure it is at its absolute lowest point when you tighten down that rocker. The manuals method is doing the same thing, except they already know which valve is on the base lobe of the cam according to the cranks position... Which leads me to another topic.

Why are you bending pushrods? If you tighten down a rocker when the cam is NOT on the base of the lobe, you will either compress the valve spring, or put too much preload on the lifter, not bend a pushrod. Something else is going on here. Im guessing your cam is in wrong. Did you install the timing chain right?

Can you tell us the history of this engine? Was it just assembled? Rebuilt?

 

thanks for the info and advice..I bent the pushrod because I'm just not very smart sometimes...I tightened the rocker arms in the sequence according to the book and tried to horse the engine around w my torque wrench when it got into a bind..everything is original on the engine except for the new lifters. I think my torque wrench is out of calibration and I was torqueing the RAs too much on the cam which wouldnt allow the cam to spin which I'm glad the rocker arms bent instead of the cam lobe..It would spin after I loosened all of the RAs up..another learning experience for a noob.