i rebuilt my 89 f150 302 it ran fine before i took it apart. when i put the motor back together all the rocker arms tighten down fine. just some are loose where they meet the push rod like as if they have worn down but they were fine before i took them off is then any order they should be out back on i see letters stamped on the rocker arms

 

the rockers and pushrods should always be put back on in the exact order they had been taken off.

 

yea thats not really possible it took awhile to rebuild it so the rocker arms got all mixed up.

 

in this case your best bet is to buy new pushrods and rocker arms. otherwise you will eat the cam. just curious, have you turned the motor over by hand to make sure its just not the position of the lifters that are making some more loose then others? so in other words if the loosness changes to different set of rockers as you rotate the crank then everything is probably fine.
Lets see what others say also.

the motor hasnt been started and run yet correct?

 

ya i have ran the motor a couple of time and drove it to my new house so probaly about 30-40 miles. not all the rocker arms are loose i have move one that was loose and it tighten up a bit while the other one i traded it for loosened up so not sure i have measured a gap of .050 between rocker arm and pushrod on one of them

 

im just going to buy new rocker arms does anybody have any suggestions

 

did you perform the 20min 2000rpm break in period on the cam before you drove it? was the cam properly lubed as well? if not you may have a bad cam lob.

 

yes i did. almost all of them are loose not just one or two.