About 3 weeks ago, I lost all pedal while driving and needed to improvise with the clutch to get it to a safe area. That included trying to use the pedal/shifter to get it into a parking space in a lot, starting engine with clutch engaged, etc. Towed it to my shop. My shop found that the AN fitting which connects to the clutch master cracked. Due to tight space, they didn't give me a photo of what they found as installed, but they provided the AN fitting which they had to extract from the master, and the other part of the fitting which was still attached to the hose. They replaced the fitting with a different angle fitting, and had a local shop repair the hose. The shop advised that it didn't appear that the fluid leaked down the hose and into the bellhousing, potentially getting on the clutch components.

After I get it back it's not .. the same. The pedal feel is the same, but when taking off from a stop, it seems like something is creaking or some sort of new frictional noise. The clutch doesn't appear to be slipping, but it doesn't seem to have the same liveliness. Now I'm hearing some sort of new 'whirring' noise' with a slightly louder ticking in both front wheel wells. I talked to Monster (I have the F-body triple) and to them it doesn't sound like a clutch issue. I talked to Tick (their 3/4" bore clutch master) and they tend to agree. I'm nervous about the different behavior and noises. Suggestions on how put my mind at ease?

 

whirring noise and ticking in the front wheel wells sounds a lot like maybe the wheel bearings are bad

 

When the car is parked & idling?

 

You didn’t say anything about it doing it while parked

 

The clutch system isn't mechanical, so I expect the sound is unrelated.

For clutch feel, the shop probably didn't bleed the M/C correctly. After that job, it will need to be vacuum bled like this:
^ Very important for the vacuum to NOT exceed 15 inches. (I prefer less vacuum and found too much vacuum pulled more air through the interior seals.)

 

At home
Noise 1

At shop. Sounds like B2 rocker arm. TSP CHE rockers, Manton pushrods, Johnson lifters. Will wait for it to cool and pull cover. No misfires, though.
Noise 2

Removed valve cover. I stuck an endoscope around the valve train area and don't yet see the missing stud. There is a pool of undrained oil at the rear, but couldn't feel anything in it. Is the stud small enough to make its way to the oil pan without damage?
Where's the #4 rocker stud?

 

Most times cars come back with something broken not related to a repair or mod a "mechanic" has left a wire/connector unplugged or plugged the wrong wire into the wrong place.

 

You should just let the site host pics, that service you use is asking me to sign in just to view it.

 

I combined posts and the links above should work now. I didn't set the sharing perms correctly.

 

Witness marks (center left) on underside of valve cover, compared to new spare on right. Jordan at TSP said there's not enough room under the cover for the stud to come out of rhe hole with cover installed. All bolts were tight during removal, one ignition wire wasn't pushed on all the way to a coil. No misfire on cluster. I needed to use a pick to separate the cover from the head. Looks like original GM gasket that came with cover. I can't think of any time I've had this cover off since I upgraded covers for better pcv a few years ago, nor from a shop. I didn't hear anything metal bounce down the outside of the engine, nothing on the floor. Felt around inside head couldn't feel any bolt, nor did I locate it with an endoscope. Jordan also said the bolt would have to navigate past a lot of moving parts to reach the oil pan.

Jordan sending me a replacement stud. I can easily pop on new stud & cover. But how do I give myself peace of mind on possible hidden damage? How much of that pcv shield metal went elsewhere?

 

If it were me, I would not be content to continue driving with that bolt floating around down there. It could be sitting on top of the windage tray, or on top of the pan baffle, and those metal shavings could definitely have made their way into your bearings. The bolt may not be able to come out of the hole under the cover in one piece, but what if it snapped? That would be my guess as to what happened. The head snapped off, then the rocker arm flopped around until it knocked the remainder of the bolt out of the hole and both pieces fell down to the pan. At a minimum, I'd get the engine lifted up and drop the pan to clean it out.

 

I would start a new thread in the internal engine section of this site: https://ls1tech.com/forums/generatio...rnal-engine-5/

This thread started out talking about clutch fittings and now we have the valve covers off. The folks to look at this stuff under a microscope day-in and day-out will be in that other forum.

Please post a link and others here can hop over.

 

OK, here you go.

Missing rocker arm stud - LS1TECH - Camaro and Firebird Forum Discussion

 

Fixed the rocker arm, back at shop for original concern about poor idling, fast rpm drops.

 

Bump! A co-worker think it sounds like a flywheel issue causing the engine RPMS to fall faster.

 

Shop says they are only getting 10" of vacuum on the engine. Will perform further health checks.

 

Shop found subjectively loose CHE bushing (bolt is tight), broken cam position sensor, subjective play in timing chain. Attempting to link media below, see 4 files with today's date.


https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/d3un2...=vfqgj2s1&dl=0