help with valvetrain noise

The engine was professionally rebuilt in May along with mildly p&p’d heads (done by BLKSC – Carlos), roller rockers, .720 pushrods, new FRP lifters, .520 cam, and I don’t remember the specs on the valves and springs, other than they were larger and stiffer (I believe). (Larger and stiffer is better!).

The clicking/ticking noise was there from the first start-up, and more pronounced on the driver’s side. I’ve put about 1200 miles on it since the rebuild and just changed the oil switching to full synthetic 5W30. The noise seems a little bit louder in the past few days (including before the oil change).

I’m going to the Catskills, NY this weekend (about a 3 hour drive) and wanted to take the SC. I haven’t noticed any performance issues, but I want to make sure driving the SC on this trip will not cause any problems. I won’t be driving like I stole it, but neither will I be driving like my grandma…

And when I get back, where should I begin trying to diagnose the problem? I understand that roller rockers can be a little noisier than the stock rockers, but since one side is louder than the other I thought it might be something else… Lifters? Pushrods? Shims? Any help would be greatly appreciated, especially about driving the SC on my trip…

Thanks!

If your not used to the roller rockers they do "Yammer" a little bit. It's possible if the noise is not to pronounced that it is just normal roller rocker noise.

Do you recall how the preload was set when everything was installed maybe the rockers could use a little adjustment?

I guess I did not oversee the assembly as well as I should have. I had the engine builder do all the work and set up the valvetrain after installing the heads onto the block. I asked him to make sure the valvetrain was set up properly and to let me know if the pushrods I provided were going to be the correct length. He said the measurements were all just within spec.

What would a bad lifter sound like? The lifters were from a set for a 5.0 Mustang (I verified that they were the same as the 3.8 application), so I have 4 left over... Point being I wouldn't have to buy new ones if one was bad...

Others who've heard my engine said that noise is normal for the setup I have, but still, it seems a little too noisy...

Thanks for the reply!

I have had a lifter go bad at 150k kmh and it was because the needle bearings around the roller were broken and the roller was not turning freely. The roller on the cam developed flat spots which caused my tapping. In your case, it is possible that the lifter that is making noise was not pumped up with oil before it was installed. I removed my SC belt and babied it for several months, until the rocker bolt loosened to the point that the valve stayed closed and the engine stopped. Like you, I tried changing the oil and other snake oil but ended up removing the upper intake and the valve cover on the noisy side, then it was obvious which 1 it was. I would have the engine builder fix there oversite before any real damage is done. I was lucky because my cam was not damaged by the flattened roller on the lifter. Good luck

This is from a older post of mine on lifter preload but maybe it applies to you too since it sounds like you don't have enough preload on your lifters. Mine ticked too. Probably more than yours though

I have the same length of pushrods in my engine. But with the roller rockers I had to use milled pedestals for around $40 and you can knock $10 off if you send your stock ones back so they can be milled for someone else.

My cam and 7.20 pushrods were for stock rockers and thats why I had to use the milled pedestals since the RR are .060 taller than the stockers. The max milled pedestals dropped the RR into proper geometry.



partnumber for the Crane shims is 99170-1 under $10.


This is extracted from the instructions provided by Doug Macmillin with for installing his roller rocker kits. (Doug sells a Roller Rocker Kit and provides great service) http://v6power.net/rr1.htm

"From Zero Lash: Take your Torque Wrench and tighten to 15 ft-lbs. Notice position of wrench when starting and when finished … it needs to be between 1/3 to 1-1/8 full turns from the original “ZERO LASH” position, and ideally between 1/2 to3/4 of a turn.

if it takes less than 1/3 of a turn with no shims, you need LONGER PUSHRODS. "

Even though I only bought the milled pedestals from Doug he helped me figure out what was wrong and guided me in fixing my preload issue.



My max milled Crane pedestals used with roller rockers are only torqued to 20lbs max.

If you had too little preload ( It looks like you have too much but the thick shim should do the trick) Doug can set you up with a set of Crane milled pedastals for a lot less than new pushrods.

Cool, that's a lot of great info. It's not really feasible for me to bring it back to the engine guy, since all I did in the first place was deliver to him the block and heads, intake manifold, parts, etc. It's not like I'm going to pull the engine and bring it back to him, and it's not like he's going to disassemble the top end for free, so...

My first step would be to:

From Zero Lash: Take your Torque Wrench and tighten to 15 ft-lbs. Notice position of wrench when starting and when finished … it needs to be between 1/3 to 1-1/8 full turns from the original “ZERO LASH” position, and ideally between 1/2 to3/4 of a turn.

if it takes less than 1/3 of a turn with no shims, you need LONGER PUSHRODS. "

Click to expand...

correct?

Looks like a winter project is taking shape! (I wish I'd won that Randy Baker intake - I'd be a little more excited about pulling the intake manifold to check the lifters as well...)

If it is the lifters making noise that is how you go about checking the preload.


Do a search on it and you will find other threads that will help too.

It is cheaper to get milled pedastals than to buy longer pushrods.

Ok thanks! This is going to be a learning experience since the whole valvetrain thing is still a bit mystifying to me... I've done a few searches already under "valvetrain noise", ticking noise", "noisey lifters", but gathering info is still sorta like putting the pieces of a puzzle together.

My valve train is rather noisy too. I really doubt that your lifters are the problem...sounds more like there's not enough preload. I've got stud mounted rockers so it's alot easier to set them...just snug the rocker enough to make contact with the pushrod and then turn the adjuster nut 3/4 of a turn and lock it in place.

I just re-did all of mine a couple weeks ago and even with the correct preload and roller rockers they still sound too loud to me. Then again they sound just like every other SC with a big cam, so I'm not really concerned. Mine did get a little louder when I switched from my usual summer time 20W-50 to 10W-40 motor oil. So you might want to try running some 10W-40 before pulling it apart.

David

We've had two Comp Cams 1.73 7|16 rocker arm rollers start to develope flat spots. Sure seemed to have the preload right. Comp Cams says maybe they were defective and send them back and they'll rebuild them. This is a little alarming and impractable to have to pull valve covers to check on them after awhile. Anyone else had such an issue?