Picco02

iTrader: (1)

I am really in a bind now, so in a nutshell i just finished a TSP 228R cam swap a week ago with Brian Tooley dual springs, chromoly push rods, didn't change the stock rockers like i should have, like using comp cams trunnion kit.

I put about 65 miles on the new cam upgrade, motor ran strong, only has 48,000 miles on it. Besides the dreaded "sewing machine" sound from the valvetrain everything was fine until on the way home the valvetrain got progressively louder, parked it last night and found a rocker broke on the driver side. Took all the rockers out found some debri in the head and removed it, one side stayed together and accounted for all 33 of the needle bearings, not so much for the other side..... I am still missing 33, I drained the oil and found 12 stuck to the magnet. So i am still missing 21 and have no idea what to do...

Should i upgrade to the comp cams trunnion kit, or order new roller rockers of the same ratio?

And how do i get the rest of the needle bearings out? A friend suggested i should pull the driver side head and i will find most of them in the lifters, but i dont want to pull a head if i don't have to. I was wondering if anyone had a similar situation and what they did, im just worried ill pull the head and all that work and never find any. Or if i can get away with driving the car and change the oil in 50 to 100 miles and find more on the drain plug?

therabidweasel

iTrader: (5)

Big hunks of metal rattling around in the motor...you should get them all before running any more. You could lower the pan and feel around with a magnet, but they are probably in the big recesses for the lifters and cups. Pull the head, trunion upgrade, maybe do a little headwork and/or thinner gasket while youre at it.

At least thats what id do. As far as you have it apart already its a no brainer imo.

Picco02

iTrader: (1)

I agree with you there, thats the way im sort of leaning towards right now. Do you think you could dump some oil down the driver side head and flush them down the oil pan? Or use a pen magnet down the push rod hole to attract them?

therabidweasel

iTrader: (5)

Maybe, you can also go through the oil drains by the head bolts, but #7 is going to be extremely difficult...I dropped a rocker pedestal shim down it once, so I know. I just yanked the head in the end. You could knock them down on the windage tray or they could be there now. Its a gamble, but id bet money it will save you hours of work in the long run.

Plus, snaking a pen magnet blind through that area just seems a little rude and unlikely to be succesful to me.

vettenuts

iTrader: (4)

If you pull the pushrods, you can see the top of the lifters and any bearings in there can be extracted with a pen magnet. Just get a good one, not a cheap one because some have had the magnet break off on the lifter.

As for the ones that went to the pan, they will come out eventually just keep them in a bag to count.

The new stock rockers shouldn't have this issue as GM upgraded them several years ago towards the end of LS1 production.

Picco02

iTrader: (1)

Very good point, its impossible to get down that oil drain with the valve and the spring sitting right in front of it. I am positive ill just pull the head, just going to get an oem head gasket and stock head bolts from gmpartshouse and change it out.

What do you guys think of these rockers?
http://www.kmjent.com/cart/chevy-gen...ckers-1.7.html

garygnu

try a small pen magnet inside the oil drain hole.use a big magnet to slid any pieces towards the oil drain hole.or try a shopvac to suck the missing bearings out the oil drain hole.

Picco02

iTrader: (1)

I tried the speaker magnet method on the oil pan and no luck with that, I used my brothers fiber optic camera and got it a little into the oil pan and couldnt see any in there, they got to be all stuck in the lifters or in the head somewhere....

Im going to get a pen magnet and try it down a push rod hole today, wouldn't that be sweet if i happened to pull all 21 out! I know the chance is slim to none but as much as a pen magnet is it is definitely worth a try

duweller

iTrader: (3)

Wow this makes me nervous. I was planning on re-using my stock rockers for my rebuild. My car has 58kmi on it. My heads go on in a couple weeks.

Picco02

iTrader: (1)

Yeah its not a good feeling to see one of those broken. As cheap as that trunnion kit is i would just buy and then not have to worry about it. the stock rockers couldnt even handle the extra spring and cam upgrade for 100 miles!!!

dr_whigham

iTrader: (49)

Don't be nervous. Spend the 130 bucks and upgrade the trunions.

You'll be thankful you did in the end.

therabidweasel

iTrader: (5)

The general consensus is that nearly all aftermarket rockers put too much weight on the nose and will float your valves unless you have a crazy gorilla valvetrain. Most folks with powdered metal guides use trunnion upgraded stockers. For those of us with bronze guides, which cannot take the scrubbing action of a non-roller tipped rocker, we generally use YT ultralights, i think a few use scorpions...some go crazy with full shaft mount setups, but they have their own issues and are quite expensive.

Look at the ones in your link and then look at the stockers, which one do you think is significantly heavier?

Picco02

iTrader: (1)

Thank you for that I didn't think of it that way, I saw on a post in ls1 tech how strong the stock rockers really are with the trunnion upgrade and I am just going to stay with them. I have seen a few pictures of the ends snapping off over the spring, would I have to worry about that? My 228r only has .588 lift

bungy74

where can i find the trunion kit for $130 ?

bungy74

I see them at jegs for 140, they are made by comp cams

duweller

iTrader: (3)

I ordered mine tonight from the ws6store.com. They have free shipping for orders over $100

Picco02

iTrader: (1)

I got mine from Brian tooley racing for 130 free shipping. He usually ships out pretty quick