Hey yotatech
so a while back I swapped in a freshened up 22re into my 4Runner, and since I’ve been having a problem with a few rockers kissing the baffle on the underside of the valve cover

got ARP head studs and the cover has been clearance’d for them, but the issue is the rockers. I did the valve lash cold at .007 and .011 on the stand before it got installed. It’s got 22re performance billet valve cover “grommets” as well so there is some noise transfer over the oem rubber grommets but I have actual witness marks on the rockers. I torqued the grommets to spec per the fsm, which iirc is about 50 in/lb.

once the motor was installed I poured a quart of oil over the valves and rockers and cranked it for about 30 seconds before firing it up. Immediately after it came to life the valve train sounded loud even for 22r standards, so I let it warm up and burped the cooling system, it ran nice and smooth right off the bat, got the timing perfect and then shut it off.

pulled the valve cover once it got hot and set the valves again to spec. When doing this I noticed there was some shiny spots on a couple rockers, figured I fubar’d the grommet torque, put it all back together and went to bed since it was about 2AM at this point.

next morning I fired it up for a test drive and the noise was back, usually 22r valves get louder as they get warm so I was a little worried. I lightened up the torque on the grommets to about 20 in/lb in a x pattern and the noise got quieter but won’t go away, and I don’t want any less than 20 in/lb in fear of oil pouring down the sides of my block.

I pulled the valve cover again and saw int and exh #1 have shiny spots, and int #3. Re checked my valve lash and it’s all to spec. I marked the spots with a tap of a China pencil and drove it around for a week then checked again, still kissing the baffle.

im kinda stumped, as it has almost all toyota parts inside and out, only ARP head studs and 22re performance half moons and grommets are not oem. Oem cam and rockers should be playing nice with the valve cover.cim considering buying a LCE valve cover because I know they’re clearanced for ARP studs and high lift cams, even though I don’t have a high lift cam.

anyone have any ideas as to what I might have going on here? Anyone had this problem?

 

Since you have all those 22re performance parts, maybe you can call them and ask their advice. What valve cover rubber gasket did you use?

 

I’ll call 22re performance

I’m using an oem Toyota in the kit from 22re performance.

 

Every time I've had trouble with rockers hitting valve cover, loosening the nuts was the fix. I would try loosening the nuts with the engine running and see if you can get it to stop. It doesnt take much to get them tapping the cover.
I love a good torque wrench but I've never used one for the valve cover nuts. They hardly need any pressure at all to seal things up, if your gaskets are in good shape.

 

I called Jim Putney at 22re race works since he’s the one that actually makes the billet parts. He said the billet grommets are probably too tight, and they require less pressure than the oem acorns. He also said to check my valve adjustment studs for putting so I’ll do that too.

So if any of you guys use the billet valve cover grommets he says to only tighten them till the aluminum grommet barely touches the valve cover.

I guess 22re performance and him aren’t the same company anymore.

and as far as torque wrenches, I like to try and get stuff tightened properly on the engine. I have a little beam style in/lb one for setting differential preload.

 

you said you swapped in a freshened engine. Is this an engine you've run in the past with no issues?
Does it look like the baffle has ever been removed and reinstalled?

 

I never ran it, it was a motor from an import yard that I opened up and checked out and threw some new parts at.

baffle hasn’t been removed unless whoever did it was amazing at removing and installing aluminum rivets.

 

Can you post a top view of a rocker?
I don’t see how the billet grommets or 1/2 moons would matter.
if there was something about the rocker towers I’d think more would hit.
so I’m wondering if the rockers themselves are aftermarket.

 

 

That’s the one with the most pronounced witness mark

 

Just file down the rocker a little. It won’t hurt it.

 

The rockers look like the oem ones I have.
I have no other ideas regarding the why or how.
Have access to another valve cover?

 

I’ll file or tap the baffle in the valve cover to clearance it before I file down a rocker arm.


I do have access to another valve cover but it doesn’t have a baffle in it currently, so it wouldn’t be much help. I’m in the process of cleaning it up to add a new baffle gasket and paint it. Now with this happening I’m worried about using button head allen bolts in there and them hitting the rocker arms.

 

I'd probably put the oem valve cover grommets in at this point. i know earlier i thought they wouldn't be a factor, but I'm rethinking this.
Regardless, fsm torque spec on the VC is only 4 ft lbs/48 inch pounds. that already seems light. To have to drastically reduce this with the billet would bug me.

 

I can't see how any differences in the grommets would be able to change the valve cover height.
Only differences in the installed thickness of the valve cover gasket itself might change this.

 

I was thinking that when you tightened the valve cover nuts with oem grommets, the grommets themselves mush down, so the downward force on the actual valve cover isn't great. But with billet, and having no give, every rotation of the valve cover nut is directly pushing down on the valve cover.
But I'm just guessing. Easy test to verify, though.

 

The little you’d file on the rocker arm wouldn’t affect anything. But also, just hit the baffle with a hammer a couple of times and move on.

 

Tapped the baffle edge that was getting hit and loosened the valve cover and it’s better but still tapping. I’ll try grommets instead of the billet pieces this weekend cause I have to find or make studs for the acorn nuts.

dumb that this happens on this motor but was never a problem on my old motor.

 

Fixed after speaking to 22re race works, with the billet valve cover grommets, you need to use a very small amount of torque and nothing more.