I have an engine thta is missing the push rods and they are no longer avaialble. Has anyone made push rods and if so what did you make them out of?

I made a set out of drill blanks...5/64" (.078 / 2mm ) happened to be long enough for my application. (early O.S. FS .40 damaged in a crash ) Got them from McMaster Carr. (actually they were robbed from my slot car armature shaft stash ...same item )

I borrowed a friends engine so I could measure them to get the right length. Trimmed with Dremel cut-off wheel...then carefully put a radius on the end by twirling the ends on the face of the wheel, then polished w/ 600 wet/dry and oil.

You could probably also use music wire.

What engine do ya have?

The Drill blanks are a good choice of stock. Iwould harden the ends after shaping them. Several of the 4 Strokes I've rebuilt over the last year had a bit of a taper on the top end and just a rounded end on the lifter end. You need to make sure that the ball fits and has some side to side movement, actually swing in the socket of both the Rocker and the lifter. The actual length can be off a bit, that is what the adjustment screws are for. Iwould fit them per the earlier insturctions, then heat the tips and just the tips, to a nice cherry red and quinch them in oil. Then polish them again. They will probalby be better than the stock ones. \

Don</p>

The small and medium Saito's have a tapered end at the rocker arm.

You can use piano wire, shape the ends + in right length and harden the ends with torch lamp and water. I used the push rod of piano wire with good results.

Saito 180 uses tubular (hollow) pushrods with hardened tapered or ball ended ends. You could likely remove one end and cut the tube to length and then re assemble the end to the tube. Maybe use permanent Loctite on the reassembled end if it is not a press fit.