That is a problem all in itself, especially with the 216, 235 and 261 motors. The adjusting balls on the rocker arms wear into the push rod cups. Swapping them around is not all that great and can promote a adjusting ball failure, and maybe even a push rod failure. And that may be part of or the root cause of the bendikng problem. On the other hand, the original solid rods are notorious for bending, and bending for no apparant reason. They were just not that strong. And frankly, they probably did not need to be when new, but now they are really really old, with thousands of heat and cool cycles on them. The cost of a new set of tube push rods is just not all that much relative to the cost of a complete rebuild. And as I notged above, the tube versions are way stronger. I have never, not even once, rebuilt a 235 or 261 without the use of fresh adjusters and new tube push rods.
Last edited by Dragsix; 10/13/2022 3:04 PM.
