I feel like this is a stupid question, but I have the Helms and the Haynes in front of me. This is my first time replacing a DOHC head (sucks having to remove the cams). It's a B18B. The Helms says to put the rocker arms back into their original positions. Well I got the head with them all mixed up. I noticed their are numbers 1-4 on them, but some of them are indecipherable, and I don't have four of each number. Process of elimination didn't help.

So can the rocker arms just go anywhere? Or is there a certain order like their is with the cam holders?

Thanks in advance.

 

As long as you didn't lose the grouping of the three rockers, you should be just fine, otherwise mixing rockers from other cylinders might make the VTEC piston stick, and not fully engage or disengage. If you have all the exhaust on one side, and all the intake on another, as long as they are in their original three group bundles, and on the right side, it shouldn't really matter.

Honda also states in the service manual to not reuse the rockers if not installed in the original locations, but I've seen two guys scramble heads and they worked alright.

Next time use rubber bands.

 

Thanks for your reply.

The engine is a B18B which doesn't have VTEC.

The head was rebuilt and bought online. It came scrambled.

So how do I tell exhaust rockers apart from intake rockers? They all look the same except for the small raised numbers.

 

They are the same part number, so they will interchange, but it would be better if the right ones were on the right side, if not, there is no problem.