Ok guys I worked for a dealership as a tech for 10 years and thought i new an ls1 inside out but I'm ready to burn this thing to the ground.

I built a 383 all stroke with JE pistons, eagle crank and rods block was bore to 3.905, line board and new cam bearings all clearence's was checked All 5 mains where at .0015 and all rods where .001, a ported ls6 oil pump was used, comp camshaft .630 lift and lifters R series was used ported 5.3 heads, piston to valve clearence was check all was good and all rings where file to each cylinder, This thing has a bad tick ( Harder than a loose rocker lighter than a rod bearing ) coming from the left side at idle its hard to hear but gets much loader as reved and sounds to be as fast as the crank after checking the rockers and not seeing anything i was thinking something happened in the rod bearing erea so I pulled it out and tore it back down I saw NO metal or anything in the oil or anywhere else i pulled the rod bearing back out one at a time bearings looked good i plastic gauge them again and again .001 i checked the main also good, I checked to see if the bloked wasnt clearnce good but there was plenty of room, At this time i was determed that it was a lifter after hearing so much bad things about the R lifter so i put it back together with a new set of stock style comps but the tick is still there just like it was not one bit diffrent, it starts as soon as the engine fires hot or cold sounds the same i have about 45 min of run time on it still there turned it up to 5000 rpm a few times doesnt change. while the valve covers are on it sounds like its just under the cover but when removed it sounds lower than the rocker's but deffently on the driver side and is one tick not several

This is was i have done to diag it so far, compression check
#1,2,4,5,6,7,8 all have 230 psi #3 has 250
a compression check was done wile the engine was running also hoping for a valve spring problem but all was good,

2 differnt set of lifters was used all push rods are good and preload was around .080 on all lifters, a different set of rockers was used

pull fire from each cylinder one at a time didnt change a thing

I pulled the intake and exaust rockers of one cylinder at a time, pulled the push rods out and held up the lifters with two long magnet sticks started it up, Still there one cylinder at a time through all cylinders nothing changed so i think i cant rule out any valve train noise.

I'm thinking something with the piston in 1,3,5,7 I didnt pull the pistons out of the block when i pulled it back down but i did take all the rods loose from the crank and looked for movement in the rist pins but didnt feel anything.

what are things i should look for can the # 3 cylinder being 20psi higher be telling me something?
Thanks for any help you may provide

 

Well i pulled the motor back down and found the problem #3 piston was hitting the head, it turns out that the rod was .050 long. The rod says 6.200 on the rod but when i measure it its 6.250 I clearenced checked a few pistons but not that one i guess i never had that piston at top dead center to see it out of the bore .060 but o well nothing got hurt so i thought i would share this with people.
Dont count on all the parts to be the same and dont measure 1 measure all 8

 

So the compression was the tip off but that would be kind-a hard to deduce.

 

wow! I was going to see if you had #8 piston in the right slot...hitting the reluctor wheel.

 

JE cuts all 8 pistons for the ring makes it simple

 

god damn...nice find.

you are a patient man going though all that and not mf'ing up a storm. is it back together and all is fine? sorry for the bad luck.

 

I'm chevpower's wife and yes its back together eagle replaced all the rods and paid for the rotating assy. to be rebalanced. He went through alot with that motor but its all said and done now. The car will be tunned monday by Jeremy at rev extreme Cant wait I havent race it in over 6 weeks now

 

that same issue happened with a local 427 car here.. except it was a set of patriot heads that were not the right specs as ordered. Made the most god awful clanking/ticking sound.