Found gouges on some of my pushrods

[ncmiller1]

So I was changing the passenger side header gasket on my 440, and I took off the valve cover for a little more room to slide the gasket in and discovered something interesting; some of my pushrods have spiral gouges on them.

A little background info: I am running a 440 stroked to a 505 with stealth heads and stock rockers, stock rocker shaft, and stock pushrods (out of a 77 New Yorker).  My cam is a Comp XE274H with the Comp lifters.

I've heard of clearance issues with the Stealth heads when people use 3/8" pushrods, but these are 5/16".  My first question is: How bad is this? (Dumb, I know)  There doesn't seem to be any excessive noise coming out of the valve train, but metal on metal seems to be bad whether it makes a lot of noise or not.  Also, what would cause this?  Wrong pushrod length?  This would be my first guess, since I used stock pushrods and I don't have adjustable rockers. 

Any help anyone can throw my way would be appreciated.  Thanks all!

[Chryco Psycho]

it may be nothing , I have seen factory pushrods with a sprial pattern on them , only the first pic looks like it is making contact with the heads whick is obviously not good .

[MSRacing89]

Nothing we can help you with my friend.  This a common issue with Stealth heads.  It could be related to many factors like the decking of the block, the lift of the cam, etc.  I run adjustable rockers and had to put a lot of time into clearancing the pushrods.  These issues seem to vary case by case due to the different combos guys run.  You are going to have to take a little material off around the area where the pushrod goes through......this is where you can express you frustration.........

IMHO, you should be looking at a stepping up your valvetrain with that set-up. 

[ACUDANUT]

it may be nothing , I have seen factory pushrods with a sprial pattern on them , only the first pic looks like it is making contact with the heads whick is obviously not good .

Mine came that way in the box. 
Nothing to worry about. make sure the Rockers are all in order.  There is a Left and Right. L/R L/R ect.

[Rolling_Thunder]

yep - some factory pushrods have the spiral pattern   

[ncmiller1]

Well that's good to hear!  I'll make sure to keep an eye on them, thanks guys!