well i took the valve covers off again and i had one really loose rocker arm and the other one was well on its way to loosening last time i did this i made sure all rockers were tightend down....what the eff

 

Hmmm... I know you said you checked the pushrods, but did you roll them on a flat surface to make sure they weren't bent?

 

A long shot maybe but take the serpentine belt off and start it. My motor makes a similar sound sometimes and it turned out to be the water pump (which I plan to replace).

 

you figure this out yet?

 

My car just started doin the same exact thing the other day. I havent tore in to it yet. I was like **** rod bearing-but its hear and there and is not steady. A rod would be pretty steady and get louder the longer you drive it til it gets excessive clearence and the causes heat and that causes it to gernade thru the block. Been there done that lol.
I will say that you will waste you time looking @ any thing other than the motor(mines a auto) so there goes your bell housing or trans. Some thing valve train.
I am going to try and get mine apart this weekend and will post what i can find. Deffinatlly suck ***** tho

 

Just came home from finally tearing into my engine. My car was making the same exact noise, here's a vid

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZ8619jjIxo

And here's the damage I found today

#6 journal





#6 rod bearings (what's left of 'em, they almost over lapped each other)





#6 piston



#5 bearings





#5/6 journal







And here's #1/2 journal for comparison

 

Will I just tore mine down.Its a bare block sitting on the stand. #1 rod bearing was spun.Cam is junk 2 lobes have some marks and what looks like dents lol Deff sucks ****.
As for the other guys with spun bearings. What direction are you guys going now? You just going to have the crank cut and the rods resized?

 

If it were mine I would either buy a new crank if the money allowed and if not I would find a used crank that was still within stock specs . I see them in the LS1 tech classifieds quite a bit , then find a reputable machine shop/person or better spend 3 bills on some new rods . The new rods are round and they already have better bolts so there should be no issues with spinning bearings . Google Clevite rod bearings and You'll see 1 of their sites that has a bearing failure reason page if You want to , it's pretty informative . Personally I would stay away from ground cranks , but that's just my opinion , if done correctly I'm sure they're as good as new provided the person machining the rods does a good job . Sorry to hear about You're engine and good luck for sure .

 

Ya i found a used crank locally that is standered. And im just going to buy a new rod. I dont want one rod bearing 20-30 over

 

If you wanted to do this on the real cheap....

find a used crank in good shape $100-200. Then hit up your local machine shop for bearings, they'll be the cheapest. Rod bearings should be around $15 and Main bearings should be around $50. Then you have the rod with the spun bearing. See if a simple hone will round it back out, if not you need a new rod. That can be difficult as most shops will tell you the pistons crack 50% of the time when they press on/off wrist pins. Or you can find one good piston/rod from someone else blown engine or someone who went with a stroker setup. Then, you have the various gaskets, head bolts, rod bolts, etc to buy.

Also, Advance auto parts lists cranks for us for fairly cheap brand new. It's about $250 and they come with new main and rod bearings (might have to buy one new rod bearing for the bad rod). Don't buy the one for $175, it's for an LT1 and is a misprint (ask me how I know). Use some online coupons through advance (VISA is one) and it'll be even cheaper.

Or, you can do what I did. My block also had a broken head bolt in it from swapping the passenger side head over and over due to trying to find the tick and reusing the head bolts. Well, I gouged up the surface in a few spots while trying to back it out. So, I took it to the machine shop and they said anywhere from $250-300 to remove the bolt and deck the block. I didn't want to spend that when short blocks could be had for the same price. Luckily, the guy that owns the shop is an LS guy and personally had an LQ4 short block, disassembled, sitting in the corner. He offered to sell it for $300, so I snatched it up. He's also gonna hone the rods for me with my ARP bolts for $100, and I'll be buying new bearings and piston rings through him, and assembling it myself.