I probably push my 235 and now 261 harder than most and it has a high-lift cam, which beats up the valve train more. So, I adjust the valves after each long trip. That's about 6,000 miles of loaded highway travel. I find that there will be a tight exhaust valve more often than a loose one. This is probably due to valve recession as they grind their way into the seat. I now regret not using the valve rotators but I thought they behaved oddly when I had the head apart. New Old Stock ones I subsequently bought behaved the same.Should have used them. Intake valves don't seem to change much and are usually loose if not on spec.
I adjust them cold and add 0.002 to the spec on the cam card. Yes they're noisy but they quiet down when it's hot. If I can't hear them at all when good and hot, like pulling over at the top of a long grade, I worry. I have yet to drop a valve or burn one so I must be doing something right.
I saved some old feeler gauges that are beat to a pulp from adjusting valves (SBC hotrods) hot and running to just to remind me not to do that. I have compared the dial-indicator reading with the feeler-gauge reading to see how notched the rocker tips are. Once you know that figure you can compensate for it. On Norton motorcycle engines I have used lash caps to prevent the rockers from digging into the valve ends i suppose you could do that on Stovebolt valves to have a greater surface area for the rocker to wear on. That would reduce the tendency to notch the rockers.It would change the rocker geometry some, maybe for the better with a high-lift cam.
