massls1guy

iTrader: (9)

In a nutshell here are my mods:
2001 Z28, stock short block @ 230k miles
TR224 cam & 243 heads installed at 110k miles, with 5/16" 0.080 hardened pushrods, PAC 1218 springs.

On to the issue... I replaced my valve springs and valve seals this weekend. One pushrod and rocker arm had a bad wear pattern, the others looked OK.

Here is the bad one:



And a newer rocker to compare against (not from this engine):




My pessimistic guess is this pushrod isn't getting much oil. My plan is to replace the pushrod & rocker. Then start it up and let it run a bit to make sure oil is flowing through the valve train. Then remove the valve cover and crank the engine while watching the oil coming up through the rocker hole/pushrod. See if my bad one doesn't have oil.

My optimistic guess is maybe the rocker is old and worn out, maybe some junk got in there and started to wear and then the wear just kept going.

Anybody seen wear like this before?

masterz28

iTrader: (8)

How long had it been since you last changed the valvetrain?

massls1guy

iTrader: (9)

The rockers are original, so 230k miles. The rest of the valve train was replaced at 110k miles when I did heads/cam, so only about 120k miles on those.

PREDATOR-Z

For starters, 120 K is tough on any spring, so you may have had valve lofting going on.

KCS

iTrader: (20)

New lifters? Any kind of assembly lube on that area when you installed the valve train?

massls1guy

iTrader: (9)

Good point, I should have changed them sooner. I didn't mean to leave them in so long. I put a lot of highway miles on the car commuting.

It would have been interesting to measure the pressure on the old springs to see how they compared to new.

massls1guy

iTrader: (9)

Lifters were new with the head/cam install at 110k miles. I used lots of oil, no assembly lube.

vettenuts

iTrader: (4)

Is the pushrod hole clear? Can you see the top of the lifter?

massls1guy

iTrader: (9)

It's the intake valve on #2 so I should be able to see in there OK. Honestly I didn't think to look, I will check it this weekend. The lifter side of the pushrod looked OK.