Engine noise now taking bets
Thread Starter
Launching!
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 248
Likes: 0
From: Louisville, ky
Engine noise now taking bets Ok just got done finishing up my stage 2 heads and cam swap everything went great. Drove it for the first time today did awsome smooth power no noises period. Then I decided to install a shift light and go try it out. So I found the closest camaro around and tried to race him. Needless to say i buried the tach and a short while after that it started making a loud ticking noise from the driverside head. So I took off the valve covers intake. Did a air leakdown test checked the push rods. Everything seems to be perfect. All the plugs look normal. I checked the rockers and found nothing wrong but decided to trade them out just in case. It sounds like its right at the top of the motor, not backfireing but it did loose power. all of the valve train goes up and down smoothly and seems perfect. I reused my old lifters but put them back exactly the same way they were. I put the rockers and pushrods back in and turned it over and didnt hear any noises. So here I am wondering if it will be good now. The anticipation is horrible lol. The worst part is I have a guy on his way to my house with a certified check tomorrow and Ive already told him its good. So I have my buddy mike buttoning it up and testdriving it tomorrow. Hopefully it will be good now who knows?
TECH Resident
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 834
Likes: 0
From: Marysville, OH
Probably a bent push rod. If you reused your old ones and they weren't hardened then there is a chance that they just got bent outta shape. They could still be bent if they were hardened but the chances are slimmer.
If you find anything out please let me know. I have had what sounds like the same problem for almost a year now. The car still runs good just pisses me off hearing that damn tick all the time. The problem arose in my car just as you explained yours. It was fine on the initial test drive and then the following day this tick came out of no where. My time with this problem I belive it to be a sticking lifter. I have just been trying to ignore it. Did you use mobil one or assembly lube when installing your cam shaft? Some people say that the assembly lube my clog the lifters.
Thread Starter
Launching!
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 248
Likes: 0
From: Louisville, ky
Ok got it taken down today found the problem. Spun a rodbearing. Took the piston out installed a new rod piston and bearings poilished the crank. The crank seemed fine, but after reinstalling everything and geting it running again decided it still wasnt right. That was defenitly my problem the whole time that one guy from gm told me it was just ls1 piston slap. So now im looking for a shortblock or to build the one I have.
Originally Posted by nilestracing
Ok got it taken down today found the problem. Spun a rodbearing. Took the piston out installed a new rod piston and bearings poilished the crank. The crank seemed fine, but after reinstalling everything and geting it running again decided it still wasnt right. That was defenitly my problem the whole time that one guy from gm told me it was just ls1 piston slap. So now im looking for a shortblock or to build the one I have.
Amazing,(a little back ground here) a friend of mine has a 99 SS, 114K on the clock, do to one of the other guys that hangs out in the Southern section on this board my friend with the 99 had access to a free RP motorsports cam
(Cant blame the cam though) with the Georgia F body shoutout coming up he wanted to swap in the cam to go along with the new TQ converter and 3.73 gears that were recently installed, upon removing the stock cam we discovered that the intake lobe on # 1 was fubared. Of course we decided to pull the heads and also found damage on the lifter for the #1 intake. Installed lifters from a spare engine that he has for a project car and installed the used cam(approx. 5K miles on it), put it back together,fire it up sounds very healthy and runs good....... for about 30 miles, he's driving on I85 and oil pressure starts dropping and it starts ticking, has it towed to my shop and tonight we pulled the pan and the #1 rod bearing is toast(hope he doesn't read this before I give him the news 
) anyhow the point is I hope guys that have aquired some miles on their engines think about it before they install bigger cams/heads etc. it seems that LS1's are just like all other engines in that once a long term wear pattern has been set it may not be wise to "shock" the engine with a bunch of go fast parts.
Originally Posted by ss rally red
Amazing,(a little back ground here) a friend of mine has a 99 SS, 114K on the clock, do to one of the other guys that hangs out in the Southern section on this board my friend with the 99 had access to a free RP motorsports cam (Cant blame the cam though) with the Georgia F body shoutout coming up he wanted to swap in the cam to go along with the new TQ converter and 3.73 gears that were recently installed, upon removing the stock cam we discovered that the intake lobe on # 1 was fubared. Of course we decided to pull the heads and also found damage on the lifter for the #1 intake. Installed lifters from a spare engine that he has for a project car and installed the used cam(approx. 5K miles on it), put it back together,fire it up sounds very healthy and runs good....... for about 30 miles, he's driving on I85 and oil pressure starts dropping and it starts ticking, has it towed to my shop and tonight we pulled the pan and the #1 rod bearing is toast(hope he doesn't read this before I give him the news ) anyhow the point is I hope guys that have aquired some miles on their engines think about it before they install bigger cams/heads etc. it seems that LS1's are just like all other engines in that once a long term wear pattern has been set it may not be wise to "shock" the engine with a bunch of go fast parts.
(Cant blame the cam though) with the Georgia F body shoutout coming up he wanted to swap in the cam to go along with the new TQ converter and 3.73 gears that were recently installed, upon removing the stock cam we discovered that the intake lobe on # 1 was fubared. Of course we decided to pull the heads and also found damage on the lifter for the #1 intake. Installed lifters from a spare engine that he has for a project car and installed the used cam(approx. 5K miles on it), put it back together,fire it up sounds very healthy and runs good....... for about 30 miles, he's driving on I85 and oil pressure starts dropping and it starts ticking, has it towed to my shop and tonight we pulled the pan and the #1 rod bearing is toast(hope he doesn't read this before I give him the news ) anyhow the point is I hope guys that have aquired some miles on their engines think about it before they install bigger cams/heads etc. it seems that LS1's are just like all other engines in that once a long term wear pattern has been set it may not be wise to "shock" the engine with a bunch of go fast parts.
Trending Topics
Thread Starter
Launching!
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 248
Likes: 0
From: Louisville, ky
Well i would say that except this motor only has 31000 miles on it. Then how also would I explain like for instance rob raymers turbo formula with 120000 miles making 700 rwhp? So I guess getting deeper on these engines diagnosed with piston slap some have been misdiagnosed, and is rather bad rod bearings. That's weird that no 1 is bad on that mtr also.
LS1 Tech Stories
The Best V8 Stories One Small Block at Time
Top 10 Greatest Cadillac V Series Performance Models Ever, Ranked
Pouria Savadkouei
Top 10 Most Powerful Chevy Trucks Ever Made!
Hennessey's New Supercharged Silverado ZR2 Has 700 HP
Verdad Gallardo
Coachbuilt N2A Anteros Is an LS2-Powered C6 Corvette In Italian Clothes
Verdad Gallardo
Awesome K5 Blazer Restomod Comes With C7 Corvette Power
Verdad Gallardo
10 Camaros You Should Never Buy
10 LS Engine Myths That Refuse to Die
Verdad Gallardo
Five Reasons the Camaro Was the Most Pivotal Player in the Pony Car Wars 2.0
Brett Foote