Well i'm not really sure either, never heard one in person, Maybe someone could chime in.

 

Well I pulled the valve cover and everything looks OK, no needle bearing to be found. Although all of the rockers execpt the last one had slight play from left to right, is this normal?? Also if i pull the push rods out, when reinstalling the rockers do i just put them back on and torque to 22ft pounds? I dont want to mess anything up since I've never done valvetrain work.

 

I found the same, the side to side play, and opted to have harland rebuidl them because of it.

 

Does anybody know if your supposed to use lock tite on the rocker bolts, and are you supposed to rotate the engine or anything, or just torque them down?? Dont want to make any more problems then i already have when putting it back together.

 

I have never heard of using locktite and I dont think that would be a good idea. Second, There should be NO play on the rockers. That right there may be your ticking. Thats a loose rocker and is one of the things that can cause the ticking. Once you torque everything down, it is a safe thing to rotate the crank 90 degrees, retighten, 90 degrees again, and then tighten one last time. This is not NEEDED, but is a good safety measure to ensure that all of the rockers are tightened down to the proper specs.

 

I'm going to be swapping my rocker arms for 1.6 rockers because of this same reason, soon. does anyone have any suggestions on brands or anything



I have a 97 z28 no real major work to the engine yet. just an underdrive pulley

 

Well...most people will tell you that buy that buying aftermarket rockr arms are a waste of money. I wish I could tell you exactly why that is but I cant.

 

I don't believe that because everything I've read about them say they add horsepower and enable you to raise your rpms because their lighter and stronger.


I have a 97 z28 no real major work to the engine yet. just an underdrive pulley

 

Why would lock tite be a bad idea?

 

cg, start a thread about it and just make sure its a worthy investment before buying them. I could be a little of with what i said about them but start a thread and see what others say.

pewter...I have just never heard of anybody ever putting or suggesting putting locktite of thier rocker bolts.

 

Noke, thanks for that i thought i had read to use it somewhere. So should i get new rockers then? I mean they barely move side to side no more than a 1/16 of an inch if that.

 

Maby this is true for LT1 and SBC rockers, but LS1 factory rockers are very nice pieces. They have less mass and induce less valve float than alot of the aluminum roller tipped aftermarket rockers. They have been tested with tons of HP and even more RPMS and still work perfect. Having the fulcrums rebuilt on factory LS1 rockers with stronger pieces, but maintaing stock geometry and rotating mass give you the best of both worlds.



Mine move about the same amount, I plan on having a Harland rebuild done to them.

Make sure you use a 6-point 8mm socket when you torque the rockers back to 22 ft-lbs, or you'll have problems. Loctite is not needed, they do not back out unless you do not put them in tight enough.

After the first pass at 22 ft-lbs, it's a good idea to rotate the motor over 180* and re-torque to 22 ft-lbs again.

 

I think last time when i pulled the first rocker on the driver side, i put thread lock on the rocker bolt, am I going to have a problem now with that rocker?

 

"pewter...I have just never heard of anybody ever putting or suggesting putting locktite of thier rocker bolts."

Well, we've been doing it on these motors since 1998.

A dab of blue loctite under the head of the bolt, thread sealant ( permatex # 2 ) on the threads of the intake bolt if you have ported heads.

Do a search, it's covered.

pewter, you won't have an issue taking off the rocker bolt on the first rocker, just may have to 'break' it loose with a good turn.

 

Well I changed the oil today GC 0w30 and like i said checked the rockers, i didn't pull the pushrods because NO ONE! in town had a 24mm 6 point deep socket. So i didn't want to do it without being able to turn the motor then retorqueing. Well after changing the oil the noise seemed to quiet down some once warm, but is still there. At idle it's almost not there unless you put your ear to the side of the car. I also noticed you can here it again while holding the revs at 2000. So should i still not drive the car till i check the PR's? I dont know what to do since i need the car for work and school.

 

I just dont see how i could have bent a pushrod with the stock rev limiter, which i dont even think I hit the night it started.

 

My factory Helm manual calls for thread locker (loctite). You need to do a preload check with #1 @ TDC. With the heads still on, pull the spark plug, turn the crank slowly until you can feel the top of the piston hitting a long stiff ziptie or something like it that won't mar anything. Hand tighten the bolt on the rocker. With a calibrated tq wrench count how many turns you need to get to 22 ft. lbs. Generally speaking you should have btw 1/2 - 1 turn.

 

So I guess I was wrong. Im glad it got cleared up though! Thanks!

 

Well i checked the pushrods and none of them were bent, so i really have no idea now.

 

i bet money that its lifters.

my 152,000 mile car sounds like a cummins with the combo between noisy injectors, LOUD *** lifters and massive piston slap