After resetting my valve lash on Thursday, I pulled the valve covers today because we heard a couple jump off, and as it turns out a couple did, but this in turn ground off the tabs for self alignment on three rockers, causing the roller tip on one to freeze and to be restricted on another one, not to mention the fact that I now have tiny little metal shavings/grinding in a brand new motor.

Anyone know if Comp sells single Pro-Mag rockers, cause I need three of them.

If it helps, the motor was run for less than 2 minutes like this. Think I can escape with an oil change or two?

 

I had a prombel if you have the Pro Mags the Body on them is warrantied for life. Just call them up and explain it, I had a pic on the internet to show them but my rockers which were self aligning had part of each "Flap" chipped off because I found out the previous owner had used guide plates. They gave me some number to put on the box and it was all good from there because I got some new rockers.

 

Yes,they do sell individual rockers.About $20.00 each.

 

Also they could be jumping too if you have Self Alignings with Guide Plates on them.

 

Good, hopefully that will be the case.

I was NOT using guideplates with them. I just had a zero lash set due to the Comp R lifters, but I think the cam ramp rates on the lobes are so steep that it's causing them to jump because of the lash being so light.

I just called Comp, seems they're closed for the weekend. I don't mind paying $20 each for them, but if I can get new ones for free due to the body warranty, even better.

Now on to the fact that I now have metal in my oil. Brand new motor, what a way to start.

 

How much metal? How thick? You might see some "shavings" or what not in your motor for the first couple hundred miles or so.

 

Guess I could have also mentioned that they were jumping off the valve stem, not the pushrod.

 

Pretty concentrated shavings mostly located on top of the respective spring retainers for said rockers that had jumped.

I scraped my finger along the top of the head and didn't pick up hardly anything, just a couple of small pieces. I managed to clean up the tops of the springs as best I could. There were also some bits on the inside of the valve covers at the same locations as the rockers.

 

If you shut it dow immediately when you heard em jump the metal particles should not have gone far from the head surface or possibly only in the lifter valley.
When the racing teams build a NASCAR engine, they do some serious break in oil changes and remove the pan to clean the bottom end. Just an idea. May be worth it for an engine that will be depended on for years to come.

 

Yeah, it got shut down immediately upon hearing a rocker noise change associated with a slight backfire. I am pretty sure that the majority of the particles remained on the retainers. We'll know soon enough. I'm going to pull all the rockers later and check them over good and sit and wait for Monday to arrive.......

 

Hmmm.....just had an interesting finding. I pulled all of my rockers, and 6 out of 16 need to be replaced.

Problem rockers are #1,3,4,5,6,7, and strangely enough, ALL are on the intake side.

They have clearance to the spring retainer, so I'm wondering if I just had them too loose.

I went over the top of the head, and wiped it out good with a clean towel, then went back over every inch with a magnetic screwdriver. OMG the metal that came out of there!!! I'm not very pleased right now, but am still hoping that because it got shut off so fast after being started that I'll be ok. Oil change happening tomorrow. And then very soon thereafter the next resurrection.

 

Ok, here's the skinny:

Just changed the oil, and from what drained I managed to find a couple of bits of metal in there. I'm going to get one of those fine screens and drain my oil container into a bucket essentially straining it to see what I find. I can't cut the filter open today as I don't have my dremel. I may escape with this one.

The rocker decision has been made. I found a guy on Ebay selling 1.6 NSA Pro Mags for 249.95 + 10 shipping. WAY cheaper than the cheapest I've found. GM still makes the guideplates, and I can get a set of 7/16" ARP studs for about $30. So hopefully I'll be buttoning it back up by the end of the week.

I think I'm still going to try to get six replacement rockers for my SA set, and then sell those if anyone is interested in them. Just watch out though because they were handled by my snakebit self.

 

damn...youre having nothing but bad luck with that motor....but i know i will see it at atco by the end of summer

 

Did you put a plug in bypass in the oil filter housing when you did your rebuild? If so it forces all oil to go thru the filter and you may have a chance if you do oil changes and clean the bottom of your pan, If not it's a crap shoot if you will have any damage to bearings. I would pull apart your oil filter and go thru it to see if there's any metal in there.

 

Yer Darn Tootin'!