Topic: Your just not going to believe this! tic, tic, tic,

[rkellerjr]

Yep, she starting tapping again this morning!  I ran up to the college to get my books for the summer semester and she sounded like a fleet of drummers.  Got her home and found three rockers were no longer lashed.  I relashed them, grrrrrrrrr, and took off again.  Ran her for about 20 minutes and bang!  Another one started tapping.  Got her home tore off the rocker cover (and ripped the gasket), called Mike Tyler and screamed his ear off to vent (thanks Mike) and then relashed that one rocker (which was a different one).  The Koolnuts do NOT seem to be coming loose.  Anyway, I took her out again and ran her like she was at the Daytona 500 and guess what... no tapping.  I'll drive her some more this week and see if she starts knocking again but I'm just about ready to sell it!

Just kidding, just wished this saga would end.  I'll keep ya'll posted, right now she seems OK but I certainly have my doubts.

[wheels78ta]

Sorry to hear about the tapping....if ya want, call me at 1-800-EAT-THIS and vent like you've never vented before   

[Joker (§ir£Ğragon)]

I'm sorry to hear this Rich. How is your oil pressure looking? I'm assuming it's fine. But I am concerned that maybe you're not getting enough oil to the lifters. Have you run it with the v/cs off? If so does there appear to be plenty of oil coming up through the push rods?

[rkellerjr]

Well, I'm back from my golf outing with a buddy, what a day to golf, just gorgeous out there!  And didn't do to bad considering I haven't been out in a year.  Hit some nice shots and even made a few pars.  I took the car over to his house (he drove to the course) and it ran fine.  Driving home she sounds like one mean mother driving down the street, I love this cam!  However, no ticking at all.  I told the wife tonight that we would be taking it to work for a few days as I want run this thing into the ground. It's about 40 minutes one way to my work so we'll see how she holds up.

Also, I can definitely feel the difference in power.  I really need to get this rear end switched out to a posi unit.  The rear end is just too squirrely when given her some juice.  Scares the bejeebies out of me.

[rkellerjr]

Actually Mike the tapping quit after I relashed the rockers.  The rod was actually loose and could be turned with no pressure at all.  It's crazy but, they seem to be holding now.  We'll see.

hehehehe, sorry about the loss of hearing, it will come back!

Rear end, right now I have a camaro non-posi 3:73 rear end which I got free.  I'll check around and see if I can find a pontiac rear end around here but it's slim pickings in this area.  However, now that I think about it, I may have a friend who has a 4:11 pontiac posi-rear end I might be able to get.  I'll call him tomorrow.  Then all I need are the right gears.  And a plan starts to unfold....

[Joker (§ir£Ğragon)]

I didn't know about the stop leak. That could be it. Or just "settling" of the valve train. If I were you I'd go back after you've driven it some and recheck all the rockers to make sure none of them have tightened up due to lifers pumping back up. (in the case of clogged oil passages as Mike suggested.)

So, what gears are you looking for? Any plans for the 3.73s?

[thumper78]

After talking to you a couple of times, I can't imagine you yelling.

I really hope things work out.

I mentioned this earlier, but I would try setting the lash with the engine running if it happens again.

And as Larry suggested, make sure you have oil flow to the top of the heads through the pushrods. There should be oil under those covers, and not just a little. There should be puddles running along the lower edge.

[rkellerjr]

hehehe, I didn't yell but Mike could tell I was frustrated

I cannot lash these Koolnuts while the engine is running, there's no possible way, you'd end up losing the little allen screw.  The only way to do it is with the engine off.  I know you guys are smarter then I am with all this but I cannot imagine trying to take that little tiny allen screw out in an attempt to then tighten the nut and then try and put that little allen screw back on while rocker is moving and hot oil is spewing all over you.  Anyway, maybe I'll try that if it starts knocking again but so far I've been able to lash them with it off and it's worked.  Fingers crossed everyone?

Oil is pumping aplenty my friends.  All rockers are drenched in it and puddles everywhere.  I have no doubts that oil is pumping from all lifters and rods.

We'll see how she runs tomorrow during a good solid trip.  1/3 is at 45 - 50 and 2/3rds is at 55-60.  If she runs fine tomorrow then I'll hit the highway and run her at 70 which is about 3500 rpms.  At that speed it'sa bout a 12 minute run on freeway and then I get off and do 55-60.  When I took her out the last time I was running at 80 at about 3800 rpms and kept it there or a good 3 or 4 minutes.  No problems.

[formula462]

i know u prob posted this somewhere but what cam upgrade did u do?

[rkellerjr]

I bought the Lunati cam/lifter set made by Holley.  Got it from Summit Racing.  Here's the link...

http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?part=LUN%2D00072LK&FROM=MG

I really like it and it works well with my stock set up.

[eroc022]

im glad to see the cam is a noticeable difference for you

[rkellerjr]

Well, got half way to work and she tapping again.  I'm destined to be relashing for the rest of my life.

My friend thinks he has the tools so I'm going to go out at lunch and see if it's one I've already lashed or a new one.  What a freakin mess this has become.

[bad76]

I would definitly adjust the lifters while it is running. I am not sure what kind of rocker arm nuts you are using but most locking style nuts only require that you loosen the allen head in the center and thats it. You are using a pretty mild hydraulic cam and once it is set it should stay. I would loosen each nut slowly with the car running until you start to get rocker arm slap and then tighten untill the slap stops and then tighten one half turn of the ratchet. I have only heard of setting valve lash on a solid cam. 

[Eagle 1]

Rich, could you post a close up picture of your rocker arms and the locking nut?

[rkellerjr]

I'll post one up in a few days Eagle, I need to walk away from the car for awhile.  I'm pretty irritated on this issue at the moment.

Get this guys.  I pulled the cover off at work and sure enough, three of the rockers were loose.  I mean, you can wiggle the rocker and it shakes type of loose.  So, I lash them down, again, start the car and she still ticks.  So, I figure I missed one and said screw it, I'll drive it home the way it is.  So, I get out of work, start her up and ..... NO FREAKIN TAPPIN!  Now wait, it gets better, so I drive over to pick up my wife from work and we're drivin along, cars sounding great.  We get 2/3rds the way home and she starts tappin again.  Also, the engine is running about 225 temp on an 85 degree day.  That's a bit much.

I'm wondering if the timing is too advanced and it's running a little warm because of it?