Small Lifter tick
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Teching In
Joined: Feb 2025
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Small Lifter tick If yall don’t mind helping a young fella out, I did a cam swap on my LQ9 gen 3. I went with the Texas Speed 224R cam .600/.600 114 LSA. I got the kit that came with the double valve springs and 7.400 pushrods. I also upgraded the valvetrain with the CHE trunnion kit and new LS7 Delphi lifters from Michigan Motorsports. After I installed everything, tested and tuned it, I had good oil pressure, no leaks, everything was running fine. The only thing that had me a little worried was a small lifter tick. It ain’t that loud but if you get close to the engine bay you can hear it. Now I’m wondering if maybe I need longer pushrods. Just so yall know, the heads and engine wasn’t milled and I used the LS2 6.0 MLS head gaskets from Michigan Motorsports. What yall think, should I go longer?
Thread Starter
Teching In
Joined: Feb 2025
Posts: 8
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I seen both negative and positive reviews about the Michigan lifters but I’ma try my luck and just figure it’s the pushrod length. It’s not a super loud noise but it does annoy me. I talked to a shop and they told me most of the time it ends up being pushrod length. I just wanna see if anybody else had this same problem too
One VERY important thing, and I know it's been beaten to death, but it still applies: BUY NEW GENUINE GM LIFTER TRAYS!! Can't emphasize this enough. If you're going with stock type drop-in lifters that require trays, it should be your only choice. I buy them at the GM dealer, and they're sealed in a GM bag. Your choice of lifter trays are damn near as important as your choice of lifters!!
Rez, these days folks are getting the tick more times than not, when changing out lifters. As a builder I’m almost to the point to where I’m talking guys out of buying new lifters if the existing stuff in there isn’t roached. Of course on a ground up build, I’m going with the goods, and I’ve found as wannafbody told you, that the BTR Delphi $200 lifters are genuine and run quiet. If I’m going with a stock, bucket style lifter, that’s the lifter I spec.
Couple of things here to note for you…the MM lifters you purchased don’t have the best reputation on the block. No slam to MM…I love their business model and their customer service is great. I buy a good many odds and ends from them myself….just throwing it out there that cheapest is practically never better. The LS7 style lifters have a .200 preload window. You’re likely not going to see the tick go away with a different length pushrod, both up or down. Secondly, I’ve noticed that a trunnion “upgrade” has a tendency to magnify a lifter tick because the new trunnions are more rigid. That’s not gospel, but I’ve noticed it in some builds.
I don’t ever recommend getting away from 30w oil in an LS application, but I have seen guys move to a 40w oil and it quiet the tick. Maybe give it a try.
Ive seen guys chase these ticks with lots of new parts and lots of money and never make it go away. If it’s not obnoxious, I’d not worry about it. It’s not going to hurt anything. Benchmark your hot oil pressure on the next drive and record it. If you ever see it decline, then it’s time to consider making changes.
Couple of things here to note for you…the MM lifters you purchased don’t have the best reputation on the block. No slam to MM…I love their business model and their customer service is great. I buy a good many odds and ends from them myself….just throwing it out there that cheapest is practically never better. The LS7 style lifters have a .200 preload window. You’re likely not going to see the tick go away with a different length pushrod, both up or down. Secondly, I’ve noticed that a trunnion “upgrade” has a tendency to magnify a lifter tick because the new trunnions are more rigid. That’s not gospel, but I’ve noticed it in some builds.
I don’t ever recommend getting away from 30w oil in an LS application, but I have seen guys move to a 40w oil and it quiet the tick. Maybe give it a try.
Ive seen guys chase these ticks with lots of new parts and lots of money and never make it go away. If it’s not obnoxious, I’d not worry about it. It’s not going to hurt anything. Benchmark your hot oil pressure on the next drive and record it. If you ever see it decline, then it’s time to consider making changes.
Thread Starter
Teching In
Joined: Feb 2025
Posts: 8
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I really appreciate your help Che70velle and the time you took to reply to my question. When I was buying parts I didn’t really have a clear understanding of the lifters and all that, but now that I’ve been looking through this site I’m starting to get it more. My oil pressure is solid, like 38–40 at idle, and temps are good too. I still got my old lifters but they got 160k miles, so I just went ahead and swapped them out since I was already in there, you know how it is. I also put in a new Melling oil pump. I really appreciate the info maybe in the future I might go with some BTR lifters if I get the time to pull the heads again.
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TECH Regular
Joined: May 2023
Posts: 428
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From: Franconia, PA
I seen both negative and positive reviews about the Michigan lifters but I’ma try my luck and just figure it’s the pushrod length. It’s not a super loud noise but it does annoy me. I talked to a shop and they told me most of the time it ends up being pushrod length. I just wanna see if anybody else had this same problem too
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In my experience, there's not such thing as a "small lifter tick" on an LS1. When a lifter collapsed on my 98 Formula, it sounded like the CD player was skipping. Every Gen III I've ever owned had a light tick at idle, I just chalk it up to an LS being an LS.
I pretty much agree with you. However, if the OP is hearing this tick on only one cylinder, that's not normal....Or, at least it didn't used to be. I agree with Che70velle that if it's not too obnoxious it might be best to just let it run. But it's hard to define obnoxious.....