I bought 3/8 size. Is that to big? When I got got the pushrods today I thought that they would be a little bit bigger than what they are?

 

MMM... Not 100% sure. I used the ones that look like cheap radio antenna's. I don't know the exact size of the PR holes, but I'd estimate they give the PR's about 1/16-1/8" of room all around them. They weren't perfectly centered.

 

i did the Russian roullet(sp) method.
spun the cam a few times to get the lifters up, and out of the way, and then pulled it out, and installed the new one as soon as I got the old one out

 

I just used two 5/16 diameter rods (about 20 inches long with a handle) and stuck them in the oil holes. Total cost 6 bucks a lot cheaper than 16 pen magnets.

 

I tried the pen magnet method WITHOUT success. I was only able to get the cam out about 6 inches(3 cam lobes) and the repeatedly hit a snag. I tried spinning the cam slowly while feeling the top of each magnet to try and figure out which lifter wasn't up high enough to let the cam slip by, but never found the culprit. Finally get the JPR tool and the cam came right out first try. The 5/16 rod is a lot cheaper if it works. There isn't any force on the lifters at this point since the rods are already out so it doesn't take much to hold them up. That's why some daring people get away with the quick out and in method, but that takes a lot of nerve because if one slips down your in for a lot of work you didn't plan on. Later on when I pulled my heads to have them CNCed I checked the lifter retainers. Some of the lifters would stay inside of the retainer for a long time, but some would slide out after only a second or two. This was while I was holding the retainer in the vertical position, but when they are inside of the engine they are at more like a 45 degree angle so they don't have as much of a tendency to slide down as fast.I replaced both of them as they are only about $7 each.