LT1-LT4 Modifications 1993-97 Gen II Small Block V8

lack of oil?

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Old Mar 19, 2009 | 09:12 PM
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Default lack of oil?

afew months back i had replaced my springs and rockers. i installed 918's beehives and comps 1.6 magnum rockers. the set up was great and i thought working perfectly fine. today im tearing down my engine for my cam swap (that ill be posting when i get more work done) and i found that almost all of my rockers show excessive wear on the pivot ball and the bottom of the rocker is blued from heat. im asking if it would be ok to possibly clean them up and reuse them and what would cause this to happen. lack of oil ? here are some pics





and this is the reason for doing a cam in the first place. do you think i can reuse this lifter ???

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Old Mar 19, 2009 | 09:34 PM
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wow yeah I would go ahead and reuse the lifters and then I would sandblast those rockers and run them through the dishwasher no less than 3 consecutive cycles and they should be good to go. Did you use assmebly lube when you installed them, and did you use new pushrods?? Sometimes the oil passages in the pushrods are gummed up with the sticky oil they use for corrosion prevention from the factory. When I installed my rockers and pushrods I had a hard time getting oil up top initially so I removed the valve covers added a capful of oil into each rocker and ran it up to about 3,000 rpm and finally oil started pumping up top. If yours went through the same scenario it might have happened off of initial start up. I am not sure but if we are shooting in the dark that is a probloem that I ran into, hope it helps
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Old Mar 19, 2009 | 09:41 PM
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Originally Posted by JB_97ws6TA
wow yeah I would go ahead and reuse the lifters and then I would sandblast those rockers and run them through the dishwasher no less than 3 consecutive cycles and they should be good to go. Did you use assmebly lube when you installed them, and did you use new pushrods?? Sometimes the oil passages in the pushrods are gummed up with the sticky oil they use for corrosion prevention from the factory. When I installed my rockers and pushrods I had a hard time getting oil up top initially so I removed the valve covers added a capful of oil into each rocker and ran it up to about 3,000 rpm and finally oil started pumping up top. If yours went through the same scenario it might have happened off of initial start up. I am not sure but if we are shooting in the dark that is a probloem that I ran into, hope it helps
so 4 hours would be good ? haha i left them in oil over night. assembled them with brand new pushrods and poured a court of oil ontop of them before start up and kicked my rpm to around 2-2500 until oil was circulating properly. all i know is that theyve seen ALOT of heat. i really dont have it in my budget right now to buy new rockers :\ even tho i found these in another post but no one hast made any comments about them yet

http://www.kmjent.com/cart/home.php?cat=20164565

the surface of my pivot ball and the cup of the rocker are scored but i can polish them out. does anyone think itll be ok to run my new cam with my old ones ?
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Old Mar 19, 2009 | 10:17 PM
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You should not even be asking about reusing lifters that look like that.
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Old Mar 19, 2009 | 10:24 PM
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Originally Posted by shbox
You should not even be asking about reusing lifters that look like that.
the lifter part was a joke i have all new lifters to accompany my brand new cam
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Old Mar 20, 2009 | 12:16 PM
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Do all the rockers look like that or is it only the one with the messed up lifter?

I don't know if I'd reuse the rockers with aftermarket spring pressures and until you address the oiling problem it will just happen to new rockers too.
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Old Mar 20, 2009 | 12:22 PM
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Originally Posted by My95Z
Do all the rockers look like that or is it only the one with the messed up lifter?

I don't know if I'd reuse the rockers with aftermarket spring pressures and until you address the oiling problem it will just happen to new rockers too.
He said in his original post that almost all of his rockers looked like that.
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Old Mar 20, 2009 | 02:47 PM
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Originally Posted by ss.slp.ls1
He said in his original post that almost all of his rockers looked like that.
yup. there are only 2 or 3 that dont show that much wear. im going to probably be pulling the engine and doing a gm white spring in my oil pump at the very least (i already have it) idk if i want to rerun these rockers or not. i dont have that much on me especially if im going to freshen up the bottom end (which im very much considering)
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Old Mar 20, 2009 | 02:54 PM
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Are you still getting good oil pressure at hot idle? Seems to me the lifter/lifters were prob the reason for lack of oil.
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Old Mar 20, 2009 | 02:59 PM
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its common with those rockers. i would get the ball with out the grooves in it to replace the other ones. the groove causes the oil to drain out too fast not taking the heat with it. i had the same prob on my old tpi car.
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Old Mar 21, 2009 | 12:18 AM
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Originally Posted by My95Z
Are you still getting good oil pressure at hot idle? Seems to me the lifter/lifters were prob the reason for lack of oil.
at hot idle i was getting oil pressure. maybe abit on the low side. 15 psi or so. a first gear pull the oil psi wouldnt go as high as i would like maybe 30 or so but once i got into 2nd gear it got to around 40.

Originally Posted by goldmecham
its common with those rockers. i would get the ball with out the grooves in it to replace the other ones. the groove causes the oil to drain out too fast not taking the heat with it. i had the same prob on my old tpi car.


ill def look into that especially if i can reuse my rockers. i really really dont want to get new ones :\
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Old Mar 21, 2009 | 09:35 AM
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Originally Posted by SoxXpupPeT
the lifter part was a joke i have all new lifters to accompany my brand new cam
LOL, I have seen some similar posts that weren't jokes.
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Old Mar 21, 2009 | 09:50 AM
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Originally Posted by shbox
LOL, I have seen some similar posts that weren't jokes.
Yikes! at least they post up on this forum so they can get steered in the right direction. even if my lifters looked good id still replace them. as for my rockers however... im getting nervous
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Old Mar 21, 2009 | 10:51 AM
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I know you may have a budget, but I would try and buy new rockers. If they blued from heat as well as got worn, I just wouldn't chance it unless you plan on going into the top end pretty frequently to check up on things anyway. I mean we're talking about a couple hundred bucks versus the damage a broken rocker or metal contamination could cause over the long term. Just my 2 cents though...and believe me I understand budgets, I just would hate to see something relatively inexpensive do a lot more in damage.

*maybe keep them as spares should something happen down the road...
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Old Mar 21, 2009 | 11:03 AM
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I would be nervous about the rockers, too. The excess heat could have weakened them.
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Old Mar 21, 2009 | 11:47 AM
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Originally Posted by creepingdeath94
I know you may have a budget, but I would try and buy new rockers. If they blued from heat as well as got worn, I just wouldn't chance it unless you plan on going into the top end pretty frequently to check up on things anyway. I mean we're talking about a couple hundred bucks versus the damage a broken rocker or metal contamination could cause over the long term. Just my 2 cents though...and believe me I understand budgets, I just would hate to see something relatively inexpensive do a lot more in damage.

*maybe keep them as spares should something happen down the road...
yeah im starting to look into them now. there are a set that are pretty cheap but idk what kind of quality they are. i can not shell out $400 on rockers right now...

Originally Posted by shbox
I would be nervous about the rockers, too. The excess heat could have weakened them.
the bluing of the steel definitely weakened them. id rather not chance it. im just pissed i have to now
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Old Mar 21, 2009 | 12:25 PM
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a new set of comp magnums are like $170
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