Rocker covers off. Good or bad underneath....?

[mjjrV8S]

So started the winter jobs early. And a big one was to have a look at the pistons to see if the tapping i have is exhaust, tappets or a slipped sleave. So off with heads! Struggling with the exhaust manifolds so they are not off yet but rocker covers and inlet manifold gasket are. It lools quite clean under there but is there excesive wear on the lifters and Cam? You tube vids show badly gunked up heads so either mine or in good shape or the opposite.....

[Steve_D]

From a purely visual point of view all you can do is keep turning the engine over until your 'eye' gets used to what a good cam lobe looks like. After a while you will easily spot a duff one (if there are any).

A more technical method without needing expensive tools (DTI) is just to hold a steel rule against the side of the lifter and measure the lift. Not easy when leaning over the side of the engine bay trying to read the ruler so choose a cam you really like the look of and take it to full lift. Cut and file a small piece of tin making it the height of the lift. Then you can go down the others and just hold it against each to see if they lift more or less.

Steve