NataSS Inc

iTrader: (9)

have you tried physically trying to open the hole that had the problem lifter? I couldnt find a crack in mine until I did that. The plastic itself was also chewed up. Not a "clean" break so to speak.

NO-OPTION-2002

iTrader: (2)

In thinking about this, it's obvious there is a problem here and GM's not fixing it...

Time for our machinist friends to come up with someting, Cal

Cal

iTrader: (1)

Yes, a set of machined billet 6061 guides would be great to have in my hands right now. Or even some thicker ones made of Delrin. But I only have a lathe; no mill yet. So I'll have to take those stock LS1 plastic pieces you brought in for me. Also, my feeling is, if the holes had not been distorted to start with, there would not have been a problem with the factory guides.

Cal

iTrader: (1)

I tried forcing the hole open, but maybe I didn't apply enough force. Hard to imagine how it could have turned without cracking the plastic. I think I will eat some Wheaties and go try again!

crainholio

iTrader: (2)

Probably a good thing in my case, I'd have been overwhelmingly tempted to go yank the heads and swap lifter retainers...

Thanks for sharing your findings either way!

NO-OPTION-2002

iTrader: (2)

Not a problem!

Cal

iTrader: (1)

I eventually forced it to twist with a big pair of pliers, but there was no crack that opened up. I'm still a little baffled as to what could have caused it to turn 90 degrees, other than the guide not holding it perfectly straight to start with.

98TAauto

iTrader: (2)

im sure this is my problem also.. a ticking sound will come and go(gotta be a lifter). I have found slight metal shavings in my oil, but I thought it may have been trash from the heads that were installed not so long along.. these were very very very fine shavings. You could see them if you turned the oil I had saved a certain way in the sun.

wonder what goodies im gonna fine when my heads come off..

i havent driven the car hardly any since im waiting to take it apart and see whats up... somethings not right. Car has great oil PSI and seems to run fine though

Cal

iTrader: (1)

That is very wise. Driving it more could cost into the thousands of dollars. I still can't believe my cam is OK after this. I'm going to try and post a picture of the wasted roller.

Tripdagoat

iTrader: (5)

recently my motor started to make a slight tick, louder when the engine is warm semi quiet when i first start the car, no misfire, car seems to run fine just loud ticking, this makes me think lifter? im taking it apart soon, im praying its only a lifter, this is obviously a big problem with these motors, how many other people have had this problem? i didnt see any shavings in the oil, and oil presure is perfect, so im thinking my bearings are ok. I guess i just want somone to pat me on the back and say everything will be ok

Cal

iTrader: (1)

A normal lifter on the left, the trashed one on the right.

98TAauto

iTrader: (2)

damn cal...

Im beating thats exactly what my issue was. Did you oil have a metallic dusting to it? A type od dust you couldnt see directly looking in it, but if you shook it or let the sun hit it in certain ways you could see it? I didnt find any big chips or peices.. even cut open the oil filter. Most of what i found looked like normal wear and tear.

I was gonna order a k member.. but i may hold off on that untill I see how bad, if any, damage is done to the motor first!

Trip: I cant tell if mine ticks any at idle since the valve train has always been loud lol.. but my ticking comes and goes when im crusing around. Once time it started and was fairly quiet. I pulled over and checked for exhaist leaks.. couldnt fine any. By the time I finally crept home the ticking has gotten 2-3 times louder. Then it was gone... 2-3 weeks later it was back! Then gone again... then 1-2 days it was back again.

good luck with your car man

Cal

iTrader: (1)

No, I haven't even looked at my oil yet. When I took all the belts off the front of the motor and the sound was still there, I knew it had to be internal. The only metal I found was a very painfull sliver in my thumb from pulling the lifter!

FWIW, my ticking would come and go also. For a week or so it was gone, and I thought the problem had magically cured it's self. But then it came back even louder, so I decided to tear it down. I think the flat side on the roller hitting the cam is what makes the tick.

Bill00Formula

iTrader: (4)

That is exactly what happened to me. I replaced my block w/ an LS6 block, had the LG G5x3 cam and comp R lifters. After about 2 to 3 thousand miles I was driving home and my cutout gasket blew; car started running really bad and the tach stopped working. When I fixed the cutout I could hear this dragging sound coming from the motor.

After tearing down the motor I found that almost all the lifters on the passenger side were messed up (like the pictures). One was completely flatted. The driver side lifters were fine. When they were pulled out I didn’t notice if they were turned but that’s what the engine builder said as soon as he saw them.

The engine builder thought that the lifter was coming so far out the lifter retainer that it was able to turn. He’s opinion was that the combination of different block tolerances as well as the smaller base circle used in the cam allowed the lifter to come out too far on the retainer. This was based mostly on the wear patterns on the plastic retainers.

I tried to solve this by using the crane extended lifters (about a ¼ inch longer but expensive). I just finished putting the motor together. Now I have a knocking noise when it’s cold (goes away when it's warm). I’m not sure what I’m going to do.

Cal

iTrader: (1)

Interesting . . . longer lifters, that sounds like a good idea. Are these Crane lifters fussy about preload like the Comp R's, or are they more tolerant like the Comp stock-replacement lifters?

BTW, on closer examination, my cam is toast also. Looks like this rebuild is going to be more expensive than I thought.

98TAauto

iTrader: (2)

damn Bill, that sucks also

Cal, luckly I have a friend with the same cam thats gonna swap his soon(same guy thats helping work on mine). So if mine's trashed, then I can get his LOL

but your's was the same as mine.. the sound came and went and I figured it was just a fluke sound.. when it came back I figured it definitly was something wrong..

ill keep ya posted on my results. I guess going internal will catch up with you sooner or later. Wonder how long these big cam guys will go before stuff comes apart worse than us. Ive had mine for almost 3 years

Cal

iTrader: (1)

98TA, my 224 has been in there since July of 2003 and I've put 15,000 miles on it.

I'm not convinced that cam size has anything to do with this type of problem. I just ordered a TSP 233/233 Torquer to replace mine with, so I guess I will find out. They're still on the Christmas sale for $310, I couldn't resist. It has a lift of 0.589, which is still pretty conservative IMO. Only 26 thou more than my old TR224.

This base circle issue that Bill pointed out seems more of concern to me than cam lift. I think I'm going to see if there is any way I can make the guides sit a little lower in the block, or trade the comp lifters for the longer Crane units.

98TAauto

iTrader: (2)

I see you are going bigger with the cam

im just glad the knowledge is out there now and people know what else to look for when tearing the motor apart.

I probably have about 10k on my car with the cam also..

Cal

iTrader: (1)

Right, knowledge is good!

I don't think 10k is much at all with a 224 cam. Using the TR224, my springs still had 130 lbs+ of seat presure, and if my TR224 had really been OK, I would have reused the springs. Since I'm going bigger, I'm using new springs, though. Point is, the TR224 was very easy on springs. I bounced it off the 6750 rpm rev limit all last summer too; but I always let the engine warm up first.

98TAauto

iTrader: (2)

Cal, we just got the heads off and all the lifters looked fine... normal wear on them. So mine didnt turn sideways. Thats the good news.. bad news is, wtf was the ticking coming from lol

everything looks good so i dunno what to do now