Heres the story.

I had a lifter ticking and a bad head gasket so I decided it was time to order all the parts and get it all fixed up since its summer and I am out of school and I am done with summer classes as well ect.. I pulled the heads off and sure enough a couple of lifters were definitely the culprit. Now for the bad news. On reassembly I was rushed by my parents for working in the garage late. I had another guy helping me, and he forgot to put on the rocker stands or pedastals or whatever they are called. He torqued down the rockers to 22 ft/lbs while I was busy making some bolts for the fuel rails (misplaced). Now when it came time to start up, I cranked the motor and it had zero compression obviously, now that we know the problem. After this, we backed off all the lifters until you could wiggle them on the valve head and cranked it and it started, but it ran like crap. It took me until today to figure out that the rocker stands were missing (I found them under a magazine on my workbench and then realized the boo boo.). Needless to say, I fixed the mistake and put them on and retorqued the rockers. Started the car, and it turned over like something was binding, it wont stay started, and it sounds like its running on 6 cylinders. I have not yet pulled the plugs to check because I am sick at my stomach at the thought of having to do all this all over again after spending 6 nights on a head swap. The intake lift on my cam is like a 640 something and my exhaust lift isnt far behind. I am thinking that most likely every valve in my head is trashed, and while it was running it probably bent a rod or two. What do you think is all trashed and what is my next step? If theres a chance my bottom end is damaged, I am not going to waste my time taking off the heads first I will just drop the motor. But with the rocker pedestals out, my lift would exceed 1.000 and with the coils on the spring binding, damage has been done, I just dont know what to expect. Sorry for the long post.

 

Did you kick your friend square in the ***** yet?

 

wow...

well i doubt you would have bent a rod but who knows for sure...

take the heads off and see what the pistons look like. Im sure the lifters arnt too happy right now either...

 

I guess im just gonna pull the heads back off when I gt home next week because I am sure most of the valvetrain is junk. Any more opinions?

 

Do you think maybe a couple of lifters turned, or rotated in their respective bores? Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but the guides do just that, they guide the lifters to make sure they don't rotate in the lifter bore. Only because I didn't see it mentioned anywere else, Ihave to say your cam may be toast as well as your lifters. Don't think your valves will be bent, but who knows. I would pull the heads and see what the damage looks like. You may be able to get away with just a cam and lifter swap.

 

what would cause the lifters to turn in the bore? the only thing i could see happening would be way too much preload causing a lifter to break. but i am open to any and all ideas anything is possible i just want to know what to expect.

 

I'm speechless the possibilities would probably be endless here in regards to damage. Lifter cups bottoming out ,bent pushrods,PTV contact etc. Hopefully you got lucky somehow.... Next time your buddy wants to touch your car blow this picture up, hang it on the garage wall and point to it.

 

there is no telling the problems,endless possiblilties....

 

I read a post, several months back, where another guy did the same thing. He bent most, if not all, of the intake valves. You need to do a compression check, because you probably have the same results that he did.

 

Do you remember what the title to that thread was? I cant find anything at all like that when I search. And by compression check do you mean he messed up the rings? Or is that just having to do with the intake valves?

 

It wouldn't have hurt the rings, just the valves and possibly made a few nics in the tops of the pistons. I feel bad for you and even worse for all the hell your buddy must be catching for attempting to help you out. Obviously he is not a car guy and if he is definitely not a fellow LS1 gearhead. **** happens, just don't loose a buddy over a stupid mistake in the garage I am sure he feels terrible. Hope you can get things back off the ground here soon without it taking all too much work. I have some stock intake and exhaust valves down in my shop if you need any of them to get you going let me know what set of heads your running and I will gladly ship them to you if you just cover the shipping. Goodluck

 

You know I gota couple of friends who can talk to your friend, but he wont talk after theys talk to him. You know whatam talking about!


A little humor some times helps. Good luck

 

I believe LS1MCSS is saying if the valves are bent, they won't seal, and there will either be no compression, or it will bleed off quickly.

 

Yea its not worth losing a friend over. Im not mad at him or anything really it wasnt really his fault. He actually has had a couple of LS vehicles, but his head is still SBC/BBC and we were in a rush, so I dont blame him. **** happens. Would bent valves make the motor feel "tight" while turning over though? Thats the only thing that has me super worried.

 

As for tight are you talking turning with a ratchet? Guess first I have to ask if all the plugs are out? Actually if an intake valve hit just right and bent far enough since you had zero lash and were moving a .640 lift cam you might still be hitting it as it can't fully close since the stem is bent. I really wouldn't turn it over I would be pulling the heads off to determine what internally had been damaged valves, pushrods, collapsed lifters, broken lifter trays etc.

 

No, its actually pretty easy to turrn over with a ratchet.....spark plugs in. :/. Im very worried actually.

 

I say a few very bent valves man, no biggie if that is all just pop a few springs off and install new ones. Yeah it cost you a set of head gaskets and was a learning experience, hopefully that will be it. Keep us posted on the progress.

 

Has the OP found the problem yet?

 

I got my heads pulled off today and I can see light through almost every single exhaust valve while its closed. 7 out of 8 intake valves are bent as well. Every piston has some decent sized nicks in it too. I think Im just gonna get some valves and slap it back together. Hardened pushrods seemed to hold up, as well as the lifters. Cam lobes look ok as well, but I guess we will just have to see how it holds up once its together.

 

i would chec the valve guides as well with those bent valves being forced up and down it may have damaged them