Yanmar YSB12 pushrod question.

[Horatio]

　
Avast mates!
I am shouting out for some advice re. my Yanmar YSB12. I blew the head gasket and am now in the process of reeinstalling the head and the new gasket.
My understanding is since this is a "pushrod" engine with no timing belt or chain and with the valve adjustment untouched I can simply pop the head back on without reestablishing timing.
I am concerned that when I put the pushrods in place, being careful to insert the ends into the little cup shaped part that rides on the cam inside the block and the other end of pushrod in the rocker arms.
At this point I checked the gap on the rocker arm and it's like 1/4 inch. The gap should be set to 0.2mm. Before I took things apart the engine started very, very easily and ran great but made steam.
I expected not to have to adjust the valves at all, but now I see a 1/4 gap as if the pushrod was not mounted correctly or was too short.
Any ideas what I am missing???
Thanks to all, in advance for any forthcoming assistance.
God Bless America.

 

[anchorclanker]

Thats not how the books teach. Before removing the head you loosen the adjusters and remove the pushrods (marking for position as well as orientation) before removing the head. On re-assembly; after the heads torqued (I like to wait a bit (20 minutes or so) then loosen the bolts in sequence and re-torque) then you re-install the rods and set the adjustment.

Head gaskets "squish". Many mechanics, myself included, like to re-torque head bolts during a major service. On a pushrod engine, each time the head is re-torqued, the head is pulled down tighter to the block and the valve clearance is increased. Now you have a brand new "FAT" gasket.

Do it properly and you wont regret it later.