RW> My 55 Chevy had a 30-30 Duntov cam in it. Adjusting the valves (.03
RW> intake and .03 exhaust} with the engine running and the covers off
RW> allowed the oil to pump over the fenders. I found a set of rocker 
RW> clips (still have them today) that covered the oil hole in the 
RW> rocker which kept the oil in the engine, until it flooded the head 
RW> and overflowed onto the exhaust. I learned to do only one bank at a 
RW> time, shut it down, clean it up and re-install that cover before 
RW> tackling the other bank of cyl.

 MH> I have never done anything like that, nor would be brave enough to
 MH> work on the open engine while it was running.

really?? this was the normal SOP "back in the day"... you made
the rough adjustments to the valves and then fired it up so as to place the
feeler guages in the slots while the engine was running to ensure that the
gap was proper while running... the only real "gotcha" was
watching out for the oil pumping up out of the push rods... it could get
real messy at times ;)

)\/(ark