Installed the hotcam kit, bought some comp r roller lifters on line used. had the exhaust welded up this morning and now all i hear is a loud ticking coming from the passenger side valve cover. is this a lifter issue, or roller rocker out of adjustment? I went 1/2 turn past 0 lash. the car is a bit sluggish as well off the line, and doesnt idle for sh*t, i havent reprogramed the ecm yet though. what are your thoughts guys??

 

well I would say ...wait, how many miles are on the engine?

Ill address that later. Anyways, the tick, is it a clack or a pronounced TICK?
The reason I ask is that the rockers will clatter just a little bit, mine do and I have the same cam as you, but I have the GMPP rockers.
When I did mine, I went 3/4 past zero lash. Just to tell ya, you might wanna tighten them back up...

Heck, pull the valve covers off, start it, loosen them one at a time until they clack clack clack. Then, tighten them down till they quit. It is a bit messy, but accurate.

Also, how did you find TDC on each cylinder?
I went one cylinder at a time and it worked beeeeautifully for me.

Just my take on your setup.
If your car has high mileage and you reused the stock lifters, that could be a prob too....too many variables.

Give me and the rest of the board some more information on your engine, mileage and I/we will try to help you some more.

Brad

 

128000 on the engine. i bought some lightly used comp r roller lifters and installed them. found tdc on #1 cylinder then followed the hanes manual to tighten other associated valves, turned it 1 time then followed hanes again for remaining valve lash. the sound is a pronounced tick, doesnt sound too much like clatter-will a overtightened valve create this noise-or is that more indicative of lifters? hope this helps-appreciate the input!!

 

a lifter man, sorry to say. Unless that you took your exhaust off and have a leak at the header.
I would say it is a lifter man. I hate to say that to ya because they suck to get to , especially tearing something apart you just put together.

The haynes manual is a good source. Do you have a miss or anything at idle?
How hard is it to start????
Just wondering about those valves still.

try re-adjustiong them and it may go away, the tick i mean

 

you could also have a bent pushrod. when i first installed my hotcam kit i tightend the rockers down too far and ended up with a bent pushrod that made the ticking noise. and it also hurt performance.

 

It's probably a lifter. I have one as we speak.

 

it sure sounded like lifter-i bought these comp r's used-so they are unproven. probably just gonna put a stock one in its place i guess, but beforehand, I'll try readjusting the rockers and see if it goes away. -Damn! This has NOT been an easy project-seems as thought every bolt was a fight. (that's ok-got alot o fight left in me yet-I SHALL PREVAIL!!!!!!) : ) driving it 15 miles home gonna present any trouble to me??

 

I think with the comp r's you are supposed to run them really loose.Like 1/8 turn.Anyhow,try to readjust them.Check all the push rods too.Maybe an exhaust leak.

 

Theres no reason to jump the gun and go for the hardest source. We have just done a whole cam swap and car was fine for a week, went and did a little run and we had a bad tick. Rocker came loose which they do on the keylock styles. Put your hand on the valve cover while its running with or without a glove(depends how you can stand heat) then feel for it. The are that you can feel on the vavle cover is the area that needs to be adjusted.

Pull the cover off and adjust the rocker while its running, try not to go over a 1/2 turn, if it does continue then its a lifter. If you want to pull the rocker off and check the pushrod on a flat source, then reset the lash.

 

Just a note on those Comp 'R' lifters, do not go 3/4 turn past zero lash, way too tight for them, 1/2 turn was too tight (engine fluttered on top end). Come to find out Comp reccomends 1/8 turn past zero for them. I adjusted mine to that and the fluttering was gone and it ran alot better, although a little noisier.

-Tony

 

thanks for the advice-gonna go home and give it a try. will let you all know what happens!!

 

could be a loose rocker i had one come loose a few weeks ago and it was pretty easy to find which one

and, on a sidenote, if your car is dying at idle, might be your rockers are too tight ( i read that you dont have programming yet, but ive read a couple people on here had the hotcam without tuning and it didnt die, so...).

btw, how do you find 0 lash? you go by the "spin the pushrod " method, or the "up/down" method? if youre going by the "spin the pushrod" method, that might be youre problem (too tight). try going "up/down", works like a charm hth

 

what rockers are you using? roller rockers will be louder than the stock LT1 rockers. dont jump the gun and pull a lifter yet. besides you still dont know which one is bad. readjust your lash and go from there. oh and pull your push roads while your there. make sure they arent bent like previously said. Trey

also find out if you might be getting any knock retard due to this ticking or knocking sound your hearing.

 

Good advice gentlemen! I pulled the valve cover last night-found one rocker that was hella loose, readjusted and started her up again-still made alot of noise. looked again and found a pushrod that was bent to hell. The pushrods are factory hardened and I believe chrome-moly, should I replace all of them, or just the bent one? Im assuming that the rocker got loose and created a serious bind that bent the pushrod, so Im not blaming the pushrod for being faulty-am i thinking corectly here? Gonna fix her tonight, just looking for input on whether you think i should buy a whole new set of pushrods or not.... thanks again guys!

 

Did you ever hear the saying if your gonna do a job halfazzed dont do it at all?

We will let you decided how many pushrods you should buy.

Plus you can only buy them in packs of 16