Are there differences between intake and exhaust rocker arms on 97 Lumina 3.1

Asked by DJnRF Aug 12, 2015 at 10:54 PM about the 1997 Chevrolet Lumina Sedan FWD

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

My g'daughters boy friend tore my car down to replace head and intake gaskets. He mixed up the ball rockers and rocker arms when he took them off. I had him hand me one pushrod at a time and I put then into order of removal in holes in a cardboard. He simply threw all the pushrods and ball rockers into a box. As there was some pitting on the heads I took them to a machine shop to be planed, valves, etc reconditioned.

When he put it back together there was a couple of lifters that were not pumping up.
As we ended that day he left, supposedly to come back the next day. That was two months ago, and he has ignored my calls. I would have done the job myself except my surgery to place two Titanium implants in my spine to replace two vertebrae have not been allowing me to do heavy work, twisting, or bending.

I finally also found that he had dropped a pushrod into the valley. I had to remove the intake again to retrieve the pushrod. I then put the engine back into order enough to start it to check the lifters. The car will not start with the rocker arm bolts tightened to specs. If I loosen some the car will run, but not right, of course.

Now, since he mixed up the rocker arms and the ball rockers I want to know if there is a difference in the intake rockers from those of exhaust rockers. IF there is a difference I need to find out which is which. IF there is no difference, then he must have put the pushrods in wrong.

I need a little guidance here.
Thanks,
Dave.

3 Answers

1,645

In some cars you have one push road longer than the other ones. Right now I don't remember wish one. The lifter have a calibration you can't thighs to much.

In the 3.1 the intake pushrods are 5 3/4 inches long and the exhaust pushrods are 6 inches long. The problem is that always one should also keep the rocker arms so that they can go back on the same valves that they came off. This wasn't done here. The rocker arms and the ball rockers were all just thrown in a box. Not only did the rockers not get back on their respective valves, but the ball rockers did not go back on with the rocker arms they came from. The ball rockers looked to all be the same dimensions, as do the rocker arms, but I am not sure if the rocker arms are the same for the intake valves as they are for the exhaust. The angles of the valves are all different and not aligned the same, so is there any difference in the dimensions of the intake and exhaust rocker arms? Unlike the days of old when all the valves in a head were all in a straight alignment, these things mount in some weird angles for each cylinder.

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