This can't be good., rocker movement - help diagnosing before tearing Options

[iankarr]

Hi Guys,

So...my (new to me) 74 2.0 FI was idling great and running pretty well, except after warm it would occasionally experience a loss of power at about 3000K. Last weekend I took the dizzy out to clean and lube the plates. Also installed a pertronix and flame thrower coil. Started it up and ran like crap and uber rich. Then realized I forgot to connect the MPS hose. duh. Did that and it started up ok. It was late, so I left the car till this weekend to get the timing dialed in.

OK, so I start it today and hear this tapping racket and the engine feels like it's only running on 3 cylinders. Pulled plug wires one at a time, and it seems all are contributing.

Pulled the valve covers to see if that's where the racket was coming from and figured it was a good idea to make sure everything was properly adjusted anyway. Nothing LOOKS weird, but if I pull backwards on the #2 intake rocker, it will move about 1/4" towards me. Let it go and it returns back to contacting the valve stem. I know it isn't normal, but before I tear into things, I thought I'd check with the brain trust.Bent rod? Beginnings of dropped valve?

From what I can tell, the POs didn't drive this car much, so I wouldn't be surprised that all this new activity is exposing weaknesses....

Thanks!

[iankarr]

Engine code stamp looks normal. And it appears the motor hasn't been dropped or worked on in a very long time.

I pulled the rocker assembly and the seat and setup looks perfect. Although the adjuster nuts were incredibly tight. I mean like insanely. Had to put the assembly in a vice to crack the nuts. Clearance was zero lash before removal, which leads me to believe there may be chromoly pushrods in here?

I pulled the #2 intake pushrod (pic below) and it appears fine and true. Any way to tell if it's chromoly?

When I put the rod back in, I feel it sitting in the cup as it should. Pushing on it definitely feels "springy". If I have to pull the tube and lifter I will...but I'd like to make that a last resort since there are no leaks now, and with things being undisturbed for so long, I'm not sure what might become dislodged. Also I don't know if there's any sealant in there that would be a b***h to clean without dropping the engine. But like I said...I will if I have to.

I'm going try to and contact the last long-term owner. I have his name and city. My yellow car had amazing records so it was easy to figure things out. This is like archaeology. Car-chaeology!