Not sure this will work but I would try this
-get the engine fully warmed up and try to narrow down where noise is coming from - making sure to get the oil warmed up
- remove coils , vc and rockers
- push down on push rods and see if any feel like a new /empty lifter
- if none feel like that , push down for maybe 30 seconds to see if it bleeds down or feels empty afterwards
That's all I can think of

 

1 more thing , this is a new cam and lifters , correct? Was lifter preload checked and set with proper length pushrods? Iron block , aluminum head combo will have lash grow by .006 when warmed up , so .02 preload cold = quiet , .004 lash = noise . If aluminium block and heads it's double. Just another thought

 

aluminum lc9 5.3 block, 243 heads milled .040, cam is 227/234 .600"/.600" 114 LSA 111 ICL, has 660 dual springs, 055 head gasket, and the push rods i have are 7.375 and yes new cam and lifters and no i didnt use the pushrod length with adjustable checker. I just put the piston tdc and monitored the pushrod as I tightened. I have 7.4 pushrods too as spares.

 

With .040" off the heads I would think you have enough preload but definitely worth checking as the new cam probably has a smaller base circle. Any work on the valve seats ? Valve job will increase Valve stem height and preload and they could be inconsistent depending on who did the work. Hope you find something minor

 

heads were dropped off to the machine shop several months ago to have the heads port, polished and milled. Honestly not sure if he did anything to the valves. We put comp cams dual 660 spring kit in it and im going go haul it to my tuners house Friday and hes going the measure push rods for me and help me look over it. Honestly I may just be getting paranoid now, it doesnt sound nothing like it did before I changed the trunions but I've put so much time, money, and effort into this truck that I want to be sure. The noise it was making at the track was quite nerve racking.

 

Update, looks like it was just the rockers after all. All my intake push rods measured around 7.2985 and exhaust measured around 7.3125 and i have 7.375 push rods in the truck and mellings lifters call for .050-.080 preload so according to that im in spec. I took it for around a 45 minute round trip today and it seemed to do ok. Oh and it was 91 degrees here today. Planning another track trip. Fingers crossed! Oh and the noise is gone. Seems I was a little paranoid after the rockers failure and the noise was normal.

 

Are you logging oil pressure?
Any chance it got low, and the lifters lost their pump a bit?
LS oil pans are known for not being great at the drag strip.

 

yes im logging oil pressure, i actually have two oil pressure sensors. I have one thats hooked to holley and my factory gauge is also hook to a factory oil pressure sensor and my oil pressure never dropped and I dont have a factory oil pan. I have a rossler transbrake so I had to get the oil pan to go with the transbrake. I did a street pull yesterday from around 40 mph it seemed to do ok.

 

Just wondering were the rockers stock before or had a trunion kit before ?

 

Supposed to have had a trunnion kit from the guy i bought the heads from but upon taking them apart they sure looked stock to me. Still have the needle bearings on the sides. These CHE are much better with the fixed bushing and clips.

This is how they looked before

This is the kit i installed

 

Typically, when the stock rockers fail, they dump the needle bearings so yours failing and not doing that is a bit odd.
Look I don't want to be pessimistic because you've been battling but keep an eye on those rockers.
The early versions ate through the bushings quickly sending metal through the engine.
If I recall the CHE kit was a good one and perhaps others will have more info, but I never went to the bushing setups because of this.
Drive it around for a bit and pull the valve covers occasionally just to make sure.
Again, I hope I'm wrong and those issues have been resolved.

 

the bearings didnt dump into the engine, they just had a lot of side to side slack when I pulled them off and alot of the guys at my local track have the CHE trunion kit and suggested it to me. I would hope for the price that they are a good kit.
I also looked up the reviews on Google for the CHE kit and seen it was highly recommended.

 

Excellent, I certainly do not wish for you to have any more issues lol.

 

you and me both, man I've been through it with this truck. Man honestly I was shocked at how many people at the track were turning wrenches. Like man is that the norm with the quality or parts were buying today or what? I try and do the right thing and buy the name brand parts and still end up back in the same boat. I use to drive my truck to the track and race it all night and then drive it home, of course it was much slower back then but now a days im nervous to take it with out a trailer and thats completely going against my whole build process of this truck being able to be a daily driver that I can drive anywhere and still be able to go habe the occasionally track trips.

 

that has always been my goal also - so far so good 🤞. The only thing I've broken at the track was a ring&pinion. Maybe I've just been lucky.

 

You'll get there, it just takes time to iron out all the bugs of figuring out what works and what doesn't.
My car has been very solid and reliable the last couple of years only because I spent nearly three years chasing all the bugs out of it, tossing belts, blown transmission, broken valve springs, charging system issues, oil leaks, fuel system issues, self-inflicted electrical gremlins etc.
I'll still trailer it to the track only because I know I'm leaning on this little LS1 pretty hard and at some point, its gonna say "No Mas" lol.

 

man I wish, I used to be able to do that.

 

maybe thats it i just have to be patient and make sure its all ironed out but ive checked over everything so many times and every time im sure its go to go and then again something else happen, when I first decided to put on a turbo was in the summer of 2023, before then it was all motor on a 200 shot and from then alot was cheap parts I bought back then or factory stuck that couldnt mechanically hold up but at this point I should have a pretty sound setup. If I named all the parts I have on this truck to someone im sure they would say its a bad *** setup. Im just ready for it to show me that it is that. With having a built motor, built transmission, built rear end, on holley, fuel system, etc. I should be able to drive it to the track and race it without concerns. A few of my buddys have similar set ups and they all tell me im crazy when I drive it to the track. They all trailer there cars.

 

Glad to hear it was something minor. I hear you on the constant problems, literally for the last couple of weeks, I fix an issue and another pops up immediately. Last night it was a high load misfire, I took a guess and swapped all my driver's side coils and it fixed it. So one of the 4 I removed is bad, I'll have to swap them back on one by one to figure it out. Always good to keep tons of spares of parts like that around. I myself went with the V2 BTR trunnion kit, haven't heard anything bad about those either. Hope your next track outing is more successful!

 

It'll get there, patience is key, I didn't really start leaning on my car until the last couple years and I still haven't been to the track, plenty of street hits but no track.
You built yours, tuned it and went racing pretty quickly, much more harsh way of finding out what doesn't work versus street driving and ironing it out.
Consider your combo though too, 5.3 on 20lbs. on E85 with the 7875 has gotta be knocking on 700whp and those 7875's make good torque too in a heavy truck so everything is working hard, way harder than on nitrous for sure.