no, but if your there and your gonna pull then either way then just replace with better parts.

 

I have a feeling that you may have to replace the lifters anyways if no pushrods were bent but the rockers were a bit loose. You may have a collapsed lifter or two. Your mechanic may say he hears it coming from the front of the engine but a knock or tap will surprisingly resonate through much of an aluminum engine. Not saying he's wrong, just gotta think of everything. If you do want to install a cam, this would be the time, and I'd get new lifters to play it safe. If you don't want to do a cam, I'd just replace the timing set/chain (and new oil pump if you want while u're down there) and see if it is fixed. If not, I'd bet it is lifters. If so, THAT would be the time to do a cam and do th e cam and lifters at the same time (cam swap will be easy without having to replace the chain/pump b/c you already did it). Just my .02 though. It's all up to you.

 

You know to be honest with you, I think I was mistaking about the rockers being a bit loose, I think I was being parnoid, after reading online about what bad timing chains do and noises, It seems like I have almost every symptom that I've been reading about, and now I'm wondering is it a good idea to drive my car? I haven't been just in case, but I'm doing my clutch/pilot/throwout bearing on sunday at the shop and when thats done time for the timing chain. You know what really sucks, is how all this **** happened after my warrenty expired, like one week after it, pilot bearing went so now I'm doing a clutch and now the timing chain. Shoulda kept my 5.0 never had a problem with that car...haha jk i love the ws6

 

I think your sprocket is loose, when you reinstall everityng as a sugestion safety wire the three bolts holding the sproket, Ive listening (reading) fairly frequent that this bolts can came loose. also the locating pin in the cam can get loose also!

 

yea so what ever it is, I def dont think it should be driven. I'm pulling the timing cover off this week, after I do my clutch on sunday

 

do the ls1's have timing chain guides?

 

Just two sprockets and a chain.

 

so I dont really understand what could go wrong with that to cause the slapping/knocking that im hearing in there

 

Neither do I, that's why I said it could possibly be coming from somewhere else. Or one of the cam retainer bolts has come loose. You're just gonna have to see when you take it out. Either way, put some loctite on the cam retainer bolts when you put them back in.

 

hmm, is it possible that the chain can get loose or stretch, is it nessecary to remove the radiator or can it be done without removing it.

 

You'll never know for sure till you get in there. Once you do, then start deducting things (if it's not already obvious). No sense guessing.

 

yea your right, if its not raining out tomorrow, I'm gonna start it tearing into it tomorrow, I was gonna do the clutch first but screw it, I gotta find out where that noise is coming from, its driving me crazy. I just read this on the autozone repair part of there site:

Valve train noises can also come from inside the timing cover. They can be caused by a bad timing chain or a loose sprocket or gear. The noise usually is a rattle or knock that becomes louder when decelerating.

Sounds like my situation, so hopefully it is the chain and not a bearing or anything bad, I'll let you know how it turns out.

 

You are definitely going to want to remove the radiator. i'm in the middle of and oil pump and timing belt change myself. follow this guide.

http://ls1howto.com/index.php?article=4

 

nice, thank you.

 

Vinci recently posted some pictures of the cam plate and some of the wear problems they have been observing. Not sure if any symptoms go along with the cam plate wear, but it might be worth a call or e-mail to Joe Vinci to find out.

 

Update: Well I got the timing cover off today, and the chain has a lot of play in it, its almost hard to beleive it has this much play on it, So its safe to say thats where the noise has been coming from, I'm ordering a new oil pump and I think im gonna go with a double roller chain setup.

 

You're gonna have people tell you that you don't need a double roller and to just get a single roller set, or even just a new chain. However, it is all up to preference. I went with double roller myself because I find confidence in overkill. Some like to put on the bare minimum, which would be just a new chain. You dedide which you want.

Also, don't forget to put loctite the cam retainer bolts when you put em back in. Even if you're not replacing the cam retainer sprocket, I'd take the bolts out and put em back in with some loctite.

 

yea I'm just gonna get the SLP oil pump/timing chain package for 340 or so, slp is like 20 minutes from my house.

 

what color loctite, red or the blue, and I gotta say that stock chain is real weak looking, but I can't beleive the play in it for only having 72k on my motor, makes me wonder how the previous owners drove it. Also I was reading on ls1howto.com that when you put the timing cover back on to put RTV on the bottom of the cover where it goes to the oil pan, is that nessecary with the oil pan gasket there?

 

Yes, the RTV is necessary for the bottom of the timing cover where it meets the oil pan. I told you about that in my PM back to you. If I were you I'd save some money and order the ported oil pump/timing set from TSP. The ported ls6 pump is $130 and the rollmaster double roller timing set is $92 (or $120 for heat treated), either one will be fine. That will save you quite a bit of money over the ridiculous SLP prices. I'd use the blue loctite for the cam retainer bolts. Don't need anything crazy on them, just someting to give some extra hold.