Contemplating a top end rebuild on an L36. What do you make of pushrods?

Right now, my engine isn't modded beyond a 180° t-stat and very gutted airbox with a K&N filter inside, but I'd like to change that in the future. Nothing too outrageous, just a little more driving excitement.

I know what pushrods do, but not much else. Would thicker or oil-restricted ones be a good investment for the future?

Probably not by themselves, i don't think you would get any power gain out of them. Doing them along with rockers or other fairly major mods is a good idea though.

I'm not expecting power gains from pushrods. I just want to know if hardened, thicker, longer, or oil-restricted ones would be a recommended base for mods like rockers, valves, springs… maybe a nice cam down the road.

If your planning on doing rockers and springs it is definitely a good idea. Some rocker kits even come with them. They help the whole valve train run smoother.

If your going to cam or rocker with heavier springs then ya, stronger push rods are a good idea. To change the push rods by them self thinking I might cam or rocker later on is not worth the effort. Because changing the push rods when you change the cam or rockers take all of 1 min.

If you got for rockers and springs, go with medium heavy springs like #105'* and you can still use stock pushrods. If you change the rockers ratios, you should change out the pushrods to coincide with the rockers. I'm not sure and maybe Dan or Bill can step in, but I belive when you get to 1.8:1, the stock rods are too short.

So far, I'm just going to inspect the pushrods, clean the lifters, and replace what'* busted. Then drop a ported LIM and metal gaskets on top. Cam and rockers/springs are on the "someday" list.

Yeah i would just do them when you get the cam or rockers. Like Dan said, it takes like 5 seconds. Once the old rockers are off, you just switch out the pushrods and pop on the new rockers.

You can use stock length on rockers and cam. The only time you need to change push rod length is when the heads are modified changing the distance between the cam lobe and the pivot point.

Okay, so stock length is good. Hardened is a good idea, especially later on.

What about thicker or oil-restricted ones? Are there any durability improvements to either type?