Out of curiosity what spring pressure (open/closed) are you running and what rpm are your shift points?

 

I have a brand new LT4 extreme duty timing set getting ready to go in and you guys are scaring the crap out of me. It will be used with behives and the LE1.5 cam.

If this cam is notorious for making huge knock and KR what are the alternatives?

 

Same here, but I have about 3 years on mine. Did you inspect the timing set? Pull it off and make sure it's not your cam retainer bolts coming loose (or rubbing, which can happen if you use the wrong bolts). Check the inside of the timing cover for rubbing. I'm not sure how much oil will spill, but you could have someone crank it while the timing cover is off and see if you can hear any noises or see any problems. I'm just tossing out ideas here.

 

This car is killing me...it only makes the noise as the engine temp warms up..the warmer it gets, the louder the noise. By the noise its making and now that I'm sure the wp and opti are ok, its got to be the timing set. A friend in the local Buick club has an LT1 and he owns a repair shop, he said his has made a similar noise and he's tore it apart and couldn't find anything, and its been making the noise for several years, said as long as there not any glitter in the oil he's not going to worry about it...but I'll probably at least take it apart and see if there's any signs of wear somewhere before I can not worry about it...

Is it possible to even get the oil pan off with the engine still in the car on these? I got the pan off my '89 by just jacking the motor up about 3 inches but the '95 looks even tighter. If the timing cover comes off, I think it would be much easier to just drop the oil pan while I'm at it to seal it up right.

 

If you drop the pan and crack the timing cover loose dont tear that gasket, cause gasket replacement sucks on 4th gen f-bodies.

 

If I do this, I'm going to remove the oil pan completely...a while back I had the crank counter weight chew up the oil dipstick, I fished out all the pieces thru the drain plug except for about a 1.5" piece that is hopefully lodged in the pan or pickup screen...maybe thats the noise from the timing gear but I would find it hard to beleive that it made it up there. ..dipstick got in the way because the end of the dipstick tube had been cut off to get it back in the block

From researching other posts, it appears that the pan comes off the same way as it did on my 3rd gen..gotta jack up the motor and wedge it out between the flywheel...guess I'll try it over the holidays... no y-pipe to worry about, but I may have to remove the headers if they bottom out on the floor pan, which they are very close to start with...

 

You can also lower the K-member to get that extra clearance.

 

Jacking the motor up 3" isn't going to do it with an LT1. To replace the oil pan gasket, lift the motor up and drop the pan down a couple of inches. Cut the new gasket, get it into place, and use some rtv where the cut was made (and maybe elsewhere to help keep the gasket in place) and tighten her up. I've never done it with the motor in the car, but from I understand, this is the only way to do it.

 

Its a solid roller cam, so the open pressures are over 500# (can't remember the closed pressure... its over 6 years since the cam was installed). The redline is 7,400rpm, the rev limiter is set to 7,200rpm, and I shift it at 7,000rpm on nitrous, 6,600rpm on straight motor.

 

I see mixed reviews on if it can be done in car, what some people deem as very difficult may not be difficult for me, I have a lift at my disposal, and have done this twice in my 3rd gen. The oil pan on it is flat across the front, there is no rounded dip in the front like the LT1 pan, so that should even give me more room to work with and easier to get around the front main and counter weights. Have to rotate the crank so that the front counter weight is in the perfect position giving you the most room.
Also, to keep the gasket in place, I always tied it to the pan in multiple places with string to the bolt holes in the pan, once the pan is in place and a few bolts in, just clip the string and pull it out.
But you may be right, I've never pulled the pan on my LT1 before.

As mentioned above, I never thought of lowering the K-member some if I need more room than what I can get the motor to lift.

I may try it this weekend...or I may say to hell with it and either not worry about it anymore or let my machanic bud do it as I'm tired of messing with this car

 

thanks for the info.

 

Ok, I decided to tackle this now rather than later...
I've got the motor jacked up and its all ready to pull the bolts out, but that will wait till the morning as I ran out of energy tonight..
Here's how much clearance I have by jacking up as high as it would go before the headers bottoming out and loosened the K-member which got me another 3/4" or so.
http://hometown.aol.com/onebadwskier...TA-oilpan1.jpg
http://hometown.aol.com/onebadwskier...TA-oilpan2.jpg

think thats enough? Judging by the depth of the pan up front I should have plenty.

 

Its very weird. After I found the noise I took the timing cover off, and inspected everything and it was fine. Replaced the distributor, also, but nothign changed. I've run the engine for several thousand miles now with no problems. I dont have any knock retard problems though. I'm running LT4 KM and LT4 composite valve covers.

When I used a stethoscope to pinpoint it, i could hear it most prominently through the distributor which is what prompted my replacement of it. This didn't fix anything.

So, I'm at a loss to explain what it is, and why it only happens to some engines, but like I said, my friend Ellis who's a local LT1/4 expert says that noise is caused by the LT4 severe duty timing set. He's got some F-bodies running low 10s so I figured he knows something about it. ;-)

 

Vgeglia,
Please describe in great detail what this sounds like including at various RPM's, how loud etc.. I have a buddy here that might be able to help.

 

Mine sounds exactly like vgeglia describes, but for peace of mind I'm going back in..3rd time to remove opti in one week It's sounds almost like plastic grinding together, rough plastic, at it does come from the the very front of the opti. I too know a local mechanic that races an LT1 car, as well as many turbo Buicks, he has not heard the noise on my car in person, but said his has made a grinding sound for 3 years and he never found what it was but watched his oil for metal parts and never found any so he never took his apart.... mine did have a very little bit of the "Glitter" in the oil last night when I drained it....besides, I need to take that pan off to find the rest of my dipstick

Let you know in a few hours what I find..will resume where I left off last night when it warms up a tad outside..and I still have the drain the radiator..if it weren't for that I wouldn't mind doing this so much..its quit messy.