I have a few more things to do befor i can start my car, its been a long long long process between changing careers and finding a job. I think i started in early november of last year. Im probably within 7 days of starting the car, my goal is saturday. Heres a list of what i did...

LE/BRE 226/232 108lsa .606/.603 cam
1.6 comp cams ultra pro mag rockers
8401-bsbc patriot spring kit
Ls7 lifters
Trickflow chromemoly pushrods
ARP rocker studs
OEM replacement timing set
Oil pan gasket
Oil cooler delete
Deleted all emissions, AIR, EGR, CCV.
Jet hot coated long tube headers
Hooker O/R y-pipe
PCMforless tune
Taylor 8mm OTVC wires

Befor this ive only done pacesetter headers on my old 94 Z28 and I did the stall converter on this 94 trans am, so this is my first cam swap. I still need to adjust the lifter preload and do small things like put the radiator fans back in and change out the t-stat, stuff like that.

My questions would be Oil priming and lifters.

I didnt notice anything on shbox.com about oil priming befor start. I am reading 2 ways to do this, the first would be to remove the intake manifold and use a drill to spin the oil drive. To me this is low on my list of things i want to do since i just got the thing back together! The 2nd way is to Prime the oil filter and disconnect the ign coil and crank the car over.

How many people have done it the 2nd way? I used alot of assembly lube on the cam, but the worry i guess would be the crank. the bottom end of the engine never got touched, cylinder heads were never removed so there should still be oil on all of those parts. How long would you have to crank the car for to get oil circulated? Do you do it with the valvetrain setup? or loosen the rocker arms so theres no pressure on the lifters?

As far as the lifters go i got LS7 lifters used with 8k on them. Part of this being my first cam swap, i got ahead of myself some how and didnt soak the lifters, i guess my thoughts were "well they just came out of a running engine and are covered in oil"

Now im worried about setting lifter preload and zero lash, How do people get a close judgement befor they start the car and adjust them while its running?

Any answers would be awesome

 

i dont think priming the engine is necessary in your case. start it up

 

part of me has been wanting to just do that and see how it goes, if other people agree with that then thats what ill do.

This is a whole new proceedure to me, Im thinking i can follow shbox.com method of setting the rockers with the engine not running, start it, and go from there.

But thats why i made this post, to see what the "pro's" would do, (besides not buy used lifters lol)

 

disconnecting the ignition coil sounds like a much easier way, but remember that you will still have fuel coming into the cylinders, so you might want to take a fuse out to prevent unburnt fuel from gathering in the cylinders.

 

^ good point, i didnt even think about that.

 

If there's oil on the lifters and you prelubed everything, go ahead and start it up. No need to spin everything over.

 

Just use a low speed drill and run a dizzy shaft to prime it. Its extra insurance when you can see that ever pushrod is sending oil up top. Not sure on the other method, but like Ramair said as long as you have something on the lifters you won't have any problems.

 

The turn of that key is gonna be a tense tense tense moment in my life lol. Ive been stressing all weekend between this car and life in general lol. Im going to start the car with the valve covers off so i can adjust the rockers again when its running.

It would be smart to wait till the last moment to add the oil and get it all over everything in the heads and through the pushrod guides and down into the valley and onto the lifters once again, correct? I did use assembly lube on the camshaft and lifters.

I guess ill just have to wait and see, i need to get the computer back from PCMforless still so i have no choice but to wait. Hopefully i dont die of stress/anxeity befor that. I plan to video tape the initial start up though, so for better or worse, it'll be on camera.

Is it best to start it and let it run till oil pressure builds/responds and shut it off, or just leave it running if theres no major issues?

 

If you have never adjusted the rockers with the engine running I would advise against it. I have always adjusted mine with the engine off method on shbox site. I have tried with the engine on and it was just a mess. Engine off method has always worked great for me.

 

I did adjust them once already per shbox. But some of the lifters are soft now, i think it says on shbox that this will happen after you adjust for #1tdc and spin to #6tdc it will make some of the lifters bleed down?

 

I used the #1 & #6 method on his site and never adjusted them afterwards. Like I said, adjusting them with the motor running is not easy, it gets real messy real quick and its tough to tell which is loose with all of them tapping. I just used the engine off method and car runs great, havnt gone back to adjust any since. Just my $.02

 

Correct, adjust them and leave them be.

I also used the car off method, and my rockers are also just fine.
My .02 also.

 

this. all you did was a cam/lifter swap. it's not like you have a new engine that has yet to see oil.

 

awesome, Im really glad im hearing this.

Right now all the rockers have been set so that the pushrods were still spinning by hand but there was noticeable friction on them. I didnt do 1/8th turn ot 1/4 turn because i was originally planning on going back with the engine running and doing this. Should i start the engine and see what it does or go back now and give them the 1/8 or 1/4 turn? they are the LS7 lifters and i cant find to much on preload for them, i did however read one guys rule of thumb was if the engine spins over 6000rpm to go either 1/4 to 1/8 and if under 6000rpm to do 3/4 to 1 full turn.

Im thinking if i start it and let the oil pressure build up and the lifters pump up fully again i can go back and set all of them fairly quick and easily, right? Im thinking its better to be to loose then too tight on initial start up, but ive been wrong befor.

 

Unless someone knows otherwise I would go back and do the 1/4-1/2 turn preload(or w/e the specs say to do it to) now before you start.

If your off a little,and i do mean little, it wont matter to to much, the idea of hydraulic lifters is they have a cushion of oil in the lifter and when you set preload it puts you somewhere in the middle of that cushion, but the extremes of either can be bad news.

And if I'm wrong please let me know. I hate giving incorrect advice.

 

yeah thats what i would say. Too tight or too loose could be a bad thing. set the preload and be done with it. Dont over think everything. If you have assembly lube on everything dont pour oil over it otherwise you defeated the purpose of putting the lube on, ya know. Hopefully you didnt glob it on like crazy over everything. a thin coat is all you would need. even just a quick dab of regular oil over everything would of sufficed.