well it looks like my car has had enough of being back together and wants me to crack into the engine again
I just installed my crane roller rockers not even a week ago, and I was amazed when my valve tap went almost completely away.
then slowly but surely, it began to come back.
then last night on the way home it got pretty bad... the tap is much louder than it ever was before, and I'm worried I did damage to something but I have no idea what it could be.
I tried adjusting my roller rockers hoping and praying it was just the normal OHV valve tap, but that wasn't the case... the tap is still there and its there to stay
What could it possibly be? Lifter noise? one of my lifters taking a crap? how can I check? it's strange because it went away completely, then slowly came back over the course of 4 or 5 days and got worse than before... at this point I'm fed up and feel like just giving up on the whole thing
You may have wiped your cam. How did you adjust your rockers when you instaled them? This may be bad. Easy way to tell is dump your oil and see if its got lots of metal in it. If that looks fine then you need to check the lift on the cam. You'll need to measure its lift at the rocker arm an see if one is less then the others.
Good luck man that sucks.
Semper Fi SAINT. May you rest in peace.
basically I put all the rockers on as per instructions
barely touching
I ran the car and tightened them down just enough to get rid of my valve noise
then locked them in place
like I said, the sound went away almost completely.. the car did feel a little bit strange
then the sound came back slightly but then the car felt the same as before... pulled a little bit harder but that might have been a mental thing so who knows
then the sound last night got very bad, and I tried adjusting lash but its still to the point where it taps very loud
could I have damaged the lifters somehow by tightening them down too much? I mean I put them barely to the point where the original tap went away.. I even readjusted them today and still the same thing... I'm having trouble locating the exact spot where the sound is coming from too... but dare i say its coming from the backside of the engine and it seems very loud when you get lower (which re-enforces the cam theory)
perfect...
I have another cam (JBP turbo spec) but I don't want to install it... they said not to unless the car was turbo but if my cam is shot... I might not have a choice...
what kind of damage to the cam would I have done? I would imagine I would have fubar'd a lifter first....
Lifter will be cuped out on the bottom ( I've also seen them worn thru!!! ) and the lobe will be ground down sometimes damn near round. Heres how I always adjusted them on small blocks. When your adjusting say the exhaust valve on cylinder #1 make sure the push rod for the intake side is pushed up that way you know the cams exhaust lobe is on the low spot. Tighten down the nut while spinning the pushrod between your thumb and fore finger when it stops spinning go a 1/4 turn more. That one is now set so just move to the intake side. Spin the engine over by hand till the exhaust valve is open then adjust the intake valve the same way. Repeat for cylinders 2 - 4. I hope this helps you cause I know how bad it sucks to wipe a cam. good news is you didn't hurt the new rockers. Just let me know if you need any more help.
Good Luck
BTW you must replace the cam and LIFTERS as well or you'll just kill another cam.
If you already knew this then please disregard.
Semper Fi SAINT. May you rest in peace.
