Hey all,

Installed a wade 977b cam in my ef falcon the other day and ran into a little problem.... after it was all fitted i cranked the motor with the sparkplugs out just to test that it was all fine then with no noise or anything number 1 cyl intake port HLA arm, broke off a chip of metal arround the HLA (little peice about 1cm tall by 8mm at the base and pointed at the top tryangular in shape) big enough that im not willing to start it but not to big that the HLA will fall out with any ease (unless started i suppose)
and i was woundering what would cause this to happen and how to go about fixing it??????

Now to add some injory to insult my mate was f**k around with it trying to put it back in place and droped it into the head and down the oil gallery...... dose this lead stright to the sump or could this cause damage. as im kinda hopeing i might be able to flush it down to the sump and hopfully drain it out.... any thoughts would be very appericated....

Muphry's Law most defintly follows me with a passion

Been there and done that....

Did you bleed the HLAs before bolting down the rocker pedestals? If the HLAs aren't bled, there's a good chance they will jam when the engine is turned over. The oil gallery leads to a hole below the head so you can probably blow it out with compressed air. Try to catch the metal fragment if you can. I had the same thing happen and the rocker fragment fell into then timing gear. End result was lots of noise, teeth jumping on the bottom sprockets and the dizzy timing out.

I'd try and get the metal out before running the engine again.

Last edited by Shortshift on Fri Jun 17, 2011 11:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.

No they were not bleed... whats the easyest way to bleed them? and i did notice when i had them out some were very soft with much play while otheres were not, thinking mabey i might benefit with new set of HLA's, and would it be quicker to just replace the rocker assambly or replace the arm off mine?

The peice of metal would end up in the sump wouldnt it? as i was thinking of trying to flush it down there and do an oil change and hopefully it will drop out.

To bleed these HLA's you just squeeze with thumb and forefinger while you gently poke something down the opening in the back of them to unseat the checkvalve (not sure if it's actually a ball or just a valve plate of some sort). It takes very little pressure on the valve to unseat it and the HLA's themselves take little pressure to compress - ie. it's easily done with pinching action of thumb and finger.

You can use a small screwdriver or drill bit to depress the valve - should have no trouble getting in past your finger/thumb whilst pinching/squeezing the HLA - and keep in mind it'll only take VERY light pressure - ie. using something metal DOES theoretically involve the risk of scratching the valve, but you shouldn't be using anywhere near enough pressure to cause that - the amount of force needed is virtually nothing (I can't believe what I've been reading about people clamping HLA's in a vice to squeeze them flat - OH MY F***ING GOD! ).

Don't allow anything magnetic anywhere near the HLA's.

Be aware that as you relax them and let them expand again, they'll try to suck oil / fluid back in and pump themselves up - so flush / blow out any oil in the back cavity first and then when you've released the pressure and have them squeezed flat, flush/wash/blow away the released oil from the cavity again before letting them expand again.

You can use WD40 as a flushing agent to wash away oil then easily enough flick and/or blow away by mouth the excess WD40 (using common sense not to blow it back in your face of course). Alternatively you could use cotton buds.

yer i got a set of desent looking hla with the new rocker assambly and should go alright this time. but havent got that peice of metal outta the oil gallery any chance if u know wether it will fall down into the sump or will ot block the oil gallery??? thanks for the info so far

The metal will probably get stuck in the timing gear before it gets to the sump...and there's no way to reach it. I'd stuff some rag down inside the timing cover, just below the oil gallery outlet. You will then be able to reach the fragment when it's blown out.

thanks for all the help.... i might even c this thing run soon with any luck lol. I have to say that the hydrolic lifters make it a prick of a job... but hopfully worth it, ill update when i get it back together and ill record starting it up as it might be intresting with the stock ecu. I will get a J3 chip soon and a tune but untill then ill fouces on getting it back toghther.

Heres me update on the situation, good news i have got the meta outta the head without droping it down the timing chan cover... bad news one of the lower chan guide has broken and spat up about a 4 inch long segment of guide plus lots of other little peices.... now just woundring but WTF caused that s**t..... everything is F*cking me around with this simple camshaft install.... am now thinking about taking the motor out and stirping it down and repairing it my self over a long amount of time (months) or taking it to a shop and get them to try to fix it and let the EF f*uck them around insted of me.