TomXTC

Do the heads have to be removed to get to remove the lifters on the LS1 in my 98 WS6?

It looked like it to me, my manual is not here but a GM LS1 designer sent me the following

"Why would you pull the heads? The lifters come out by just removing the rocker cover, the rockers, the push rods, the plastic lifter alignment fixture, and then the lifters. Remove and inspect the lifters. It's fast and easy! If you have it done, it should not be expensive and the heads don't have to come off!"

Car not here, manual not here. I am now confused. I told my mechanic to read the shop manual I gave him before anything just to be sure.

777

iTrader: (21)

I already told you, here's pictures though.

Pull heads to get access to lifters

The attached picture shows an LT1 engine. As you can see the lifters are able to be accessed on the LT1, but the design is different for the LS1.

autogeek23

iTrader: (13)

Google images is useful

Reckless

iTrader: (9)

Must pull the heads. Lifters are retained by plastic trays/guides. They are only accessible by removing the heads

Sales4@Texas-Speed

iTrader: (4)

Heads definitely will have to pulled to get to the lifters on an LS motor, no way around it.

bww3588

iTrader: (49)

Did you not gather anything from the 4 year old thread you dug up from the dead?

bww3588

iTrader: (49)

An ls1 designer told you that?

vetteboy99

This mechanic of your's is a major dumbass.

2win_SS

iTrader: (1)

You have to remove heads. No other way buddy

TomXTC

My mechanic is the one that said that there was no way to get the lifters out without taking the heads off. So he was correct. I know about the plastic lifter trays supposed to hopefully hold them up when doing a cam change or you can use magnets etc. but I have not been in the motor myself, my manual is not here and it makes sense to ask. When I looked at that photo I did not notice the heads were off. I told the GM designer that the heads had to come off per peoples experience and my mechanic etc.. He told me to listen to the forum and that it was over 14 years ago and he can't recall the specifics of why that was done that way. He made a mistake and admitted it. I am sure you have never done so right? Sure. He is in his 70's and running a heavily modified Buick Grand National as his daily driver, hardly showing age or incompetence for someone his age. I know this guy and take great offense to anyone that says anything bad about him. How many of you saying negative things can say that they are or have been GM motor design engineers? So one mistake he can't recall from many years ago?, big deal. However he has told me a lot of information about the motor as well as hooking me up with designers of specific parts of the motor from GM for me to ask questions to. Not doing this myself nor even having my shop manuals here I have no first hand experience. Never torn this motor down. Now I am convinced that you do have to take the heads off and whether one could get them out but not back in with the cam out is really irrelevant in my case.

I had started a thread not seeing this one. Not sure why but since so many people have actually worked on these motors it seemed like it would be an easy question to resolve. I was the one lacking knowledge and seeking help. If I were to have had my GM shop manuals with me I would not have had to ask. I had only planned to do a rocker trunion bearing upgrade since I found some needle bearings in the oil. It was a two day trip down to Portland to a mechanic that has diagnosed things correctly that other shops had been wrong about and saved me tons of money in the past. Never been wrong about anything yet and does great diagnosis before assuming anything. He made no mistakes, upon further discussion he had already tried testing the rollers on the bottom of the lifters with a 90 degree pick to try to check them as much as possible before taking the heads off. Saving me money if possible. He did a check and found out the at 16K miles the car was in the dealers for rocker arm bearing breakage and they were replaced but obviously not all bearings came out in the flush since I just finally found 5 of them for the first time at 40K miles. So he also figured out why there were those extra bearings in there when I went to do the Comp Cams upgrade kit and found no bearings missing.

I have been scrambling to figure out what to do at this point with my car in another State with no ability to even see it or work on it myself and tell my mechanic what to do and come up with the money to do so. Pretty stressful. I am going to go ahead and have him take the motor apart to look for more bearings and replace the lifters with LS7's and install a hotter cam and better timing chain and ported LS2 oil pump and moly pushrods and better springs so when he goes through things he can upgrade durability and performance at the same time. I already did the rocker bearing upgrade in my hotel room when down there too. A few hundred bucks to make it easy on me turned out to be a far bigger issue not planned for.

So if you would like to say something nasty about me go ahead. I have not had to do much work on this motor and had no resources with me. It was a legitimate question. Saying something nasty about my mechanic is super stupid since he said from the start the heads had to come off, pretty foolish on your part. If you want to say something about an old GM engineer that made a mistake and admitted it then just remember than he was one of the guys that developed this motor and it was a long time ago, unless you have never made a mistake and had more accomplishments and influence on motor design than him you are pathetic and ignorant.

To anyone that just helped out thanks much as always.

2win_SS

iTrader: (1)

^^^ I dnt think this guy read your post correctly... I think he was talkn bout the GM Designer... Not UR mechanic... Still it was uncalled for. Goodluck on build buddy

TomXTC

Thanks. I have been scrambling. Found the parts that were appropriate for me. I plan to do a Procharger some day but thought I would do the cam etc. now where I don't have to upgrade the trans and rear end. Plus I have to get those bearings out of there if any still are and check for damage. This will mean 95% sure there are no hiding places for them. Not the cheapest way to go. Not sure there is cam lobe damage or lifter damage. But it is the time to do this stuff IMO.

So all is good and I am ordering parts Monday. Have even had one member offer to do a quick flash tune for free if I can't get the dyno tune done right away.

In general I get a lot of help with questions asked on this site. Just not going to let friends get insulted, and when not even correct about the basis even worse.

Thanks for the nice words.

TexasTarnation

There's ALOT of ******** on this site. Just ignore the **** out of them. Also I have been wondering this for awhile but knew if I asked someone would have to chime in and be a dick. Best luck on your ride!

RADEoN

iTrader: (12)

you could theoretically get a massive drill bit, and remove your push rods, and just drill the whole way through until you hit lifter, then pick up the lifter with a pen magnet and replace.

disclaimer: this is an awful, sarcastic idea, and I do not suggest that anyone does it, under any circumstance.