i just put a cam in my car with new rockers,lifters and one or the other have been very loud from start. i got 850-16 lifters, and 1418-16 rockers. i adjusted them with the car running i turned the nut till they knocked, tighted them and went 1/2 turn more but they are still very loud on both sides of the motor. any ideas?

 

Ok idk the part numbers, but if those are roller rockers this won't work, but if they are the stamped steel, or stamped with a roller tip then try this. Put engine to tdc, compression stroke obviously, if it's not then it's tdc for cylinder 4 I think. Ok when @ tdc tighten the rocker on #1 exhaust until it doesn't have any more slop( up n down movement) that's 0 lash, now tighten it down 3/4 of a turn, that seats the plunger about half way down the lifter. Ok @ tdc u can adjust intake valves 1-2-5-7 and exhaust 1-3-4-8, now turn the engine over one full turn, 360 deg until the arrow on the balancer is back @ 12 o'clock. This is no longer tdc, but now u can set the intake valves for 3-4-6-8 and the exhaust for 2-5-6-7. Now if ur cam has a different lash setting, well that's a different setting. Also, I've done some installs on some comp cams and lifters, and a couple cams , I wanna say isky? Well any how they were zero las setups as well, BUT the lifters didn't respond well to the 3/4 or 1 full turn way of doing it. They seemed to run a lot stronger with 1/4 to 1/2 to seat the plungers, I was worried that they would get hot and bleed down and clatter, but they didn't. Hope this helps?

 

One other thing, sorry but I've learned never to assume with this, did u coat the cam with assembly lube, and the pushrods @ both ends, and did the instructions say to soak the lifters in oil before u installed them? Or did it say not to? And what did u do? Believe it or not this can matter. Also u did a cam, did u do the timing set while u were in there? And when u had the engine back together, u didn't just fire it up did u? The way gm says to do it is after it's all together, don't connect the coil wire, crank the engine in 15-20 second intervals until u see oil pressure climbing on the oil pressure gauge. After the engine has oil pressure reconnect the coil and then start the engine up. Sorry not tryn to imply anything, just makin sure

 

yes i did put a timing set in as well i did soak the lifters and did put lube on the cam and push rods (both ends) i also cranked the motor over and built pressure before fire up. i also just have the roller tip rockers. is the way u said to adjust the rockers better then doing it when the car is running? Alot of people told me it is better with the car running but it made no difference for me.

 

That's a good question lol, I don't know that one way is better than another, have to ask one of the long time guys that, all I know is that this way u don't need to worry about dripping oil everywhere, or burning ur self. I've done it both ways, my firebird was adjusted running, but then when it would get hot the lifters would bleed off or something, and start to tick. Not clatter just tick. So I got the car hot and did it the tdc way and it hasn't ticked yet. There's another way too, u have to put every cylinder that u adjust to tdc and then adjust the lash @ that cylinder. It's listed on lots of guys tech stuff or I'm sure injuneer could tell u more about that way, I don't have my balancer marked for all that so as low as the car is that would really suck for me. Hope this helps

 

well thanks for the help i guess i will just have to brake down and have someone look at it and pay 65 bucks an hour

 

65$ an hour? Well even though I'd hate for anybody to pay for someone to look @ that, that's less than they rip u, err sorry, charge u per hour down here, 100$ per hour for any shop down here, I know cars are more difficult to work on and now they've added this specialty tool crap and tps monitors but, they did so for a reason, and the amount they charge for not doing anything is ridiculous. Oh by the way, what kind of oil r u using? And u gave a part number, but for what brand? Sorry there are things, many things I don't know as of yet. What does the cam maker say as far as seating the plunger? And the lifter company if they're different I mean, cause 1/2 turn may not be enough. Just a thought but for new valve train parts I was always told a full turn, in 1/4 increments. But don't take that as gospel, u never want to over tighten. So if anybody else has any other ideas, maybe u should split the difference and try 3/4 of a turn and see what happens? Just a suggestion. My lifters on my car are pretty noisy too, but that's a hydraulic lifter though, no noisier than any others but if u think u hear something wrong, my ears alwas go to the lifters, or the factory exhaust note that sounds a little metallic, almost like a knock lol

 

Keep in mind that roller rockers are usually a little bit louder than normal rocker arms. That's part of the reason GM used composite valve covers on the LT4.