Well I changed my oil today, and this is what I found stuck to the oil drain bolt. These pieces are all the same shape and size. The funny thing is, there wasn't any metal shavings in the oil. My car runs fine, and sounds fine, I just don't know where these pieces came from. I placed the tip of a pencil in the picture for size reference. Anybody know what these are, and where they came from?

 

Needle bearings.

 

rocker arm needles

 

Not Good.

 

What would have caused them to fall out? How many are there per rocker? How long do you think I have until my car blows up on me, as of right now everything works fine?

 

Hard to say. May just have to replace the rockers. Hope they fell straight through to the oil pan.

 

Time for some yella Terra (sp) rockers.

 

Its not gonna blow up, but you need to stop driving it and get new rockers on there asap. This is actually a somewhat frequent problem. Also you should try to get the other needle bearings out of there when you get it apart.

 

I planned on getting new heads and cam next summer, but I don't have the money right now to fix my car, not to mention I'm down in Indiana on co-op till christmas so I don't have any of my tools or a garage. Do you think if I popped the valve covers off I could just put some new needle bearings in. I've built a few engines but never really seen needle bearings. Where are thy located within the rockers?

 

You will need some new ones. If you are on a budget i suggest asking some people who have already changed theirs out to see if you can get a few replacements.

 

Damn, I've got an extra set, but they're not at my house now. I've got a set of heads being built up for me and when I'm done I'll have two sets.

Check in the for sale section tons of guys replace their stock rockers with aftermarket ones. You should be able to find some cheap.

 

Just happened to me a few weeks ago. I sent my stock ones to harland sharp to be reworked. they rae shipping back to me tomoorow. New trunions and better needle bearing retainers. It costs $245 plus shipping thru NastyPerformance.com
Give nate a call at nasty 1-847-458-4858
New aftermarket ones either Harland Sharp or yella terra are 395 and up

 

Well I just ordered some Yella Terra 1.7's.

 

So what causes these to fall apart?