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UPDATE:
The weather here has been really awful this summer. Finally got a dry day and last night I ran the car and got the motor good and warmed up. Pulled it in the garage and removed the valve covers to try and determine which lifters were causing my issues. Well now they are all nice and tight and I can not push down on any of them. Motor still has some of the ticking noise but its not near as bad as it was. It still seems louder than I thing it should be but this is my first roller motor and I may be hearing the link bars making noise??
Motor still has the slight miss. Its hard to describe, at idle you can see it looking at the motor and feel it in the steering wheel. Kind of a shake. As you drive it and increase the rpm it gets a little worse but not real bad. You can also kind of hear it in the exhaust. It just does not seem right. I'm not real sure what to do next. I am going to do a compression test tomorrow. It just seems like 1 of the cylinders is down on power.
I figured with the cam I have it should have a real nice smooth idle. Its been 30 years since I have built a big block. Hope I am overlooking something simple.
St. Jude Donor '05-'06,'11,'13-'14,'16,'18,'19,'24, '25
We really don't know anything about the lifters other than they are used so the only way to verify there condition is to remove them and take them apart.
I run solid rollers lifters, the cam that is in my 434 sbc is from Cam Motion, the manufacture valve lash is .004 the smallest feeler guage that I have is a .006 so that is what they are set at. I can hardly hear the lifter tick, with hyd rollers there should be no sound from lifters. T
We really don't know anything about the lifters other than they are used so the only way to verify there condition is to remove them and take them apart.
what method did you use to set the lifters?
Neal
I used the exhaust opening/ Intake Closing method. Initially set them at 3/4 turn then after reading up on them set them at 1 1/14 turn. Made no difference either way. They are quiet when cold. Get noisy when hot
Whoa dude. 1+ 1/4 turns? What ever book you read that from should be in the fireplace. I would not be surprised if some of your valves are not even closing tight.
Most valvelash is 1/2 turn. (half)
Whoa dude. 1+ 1/4 turns? What ever book you read that from should be in the fireplace. I would not be surprised if some of your valves are not even closing tight.
Most valvelash is 1/2 turn. (half)
Actually crane recommends 1 to 1 1/2 with these lifters. I just split the difference.
With the increased popularity of hydraulic roller cams, our phone techs are getting more questions on proper adjustment of hydraulic roller valve trains. First, a hydraulic roller tappet weighs more than a hydraulic flat tappet due to the extra mass of the wheel, axle and support struts. This extra mass, as well as the quicker opening rates available to the roller cam design, requires the use of higher valve spring on-the-seat pressures and higher valve spring open pressures to control the increased inertia of the lifter.
Finally, hydraulic roller tappets will perform best with at least one turn of preload on the lifter. This is different from flat-faced lifters which perform best at zero 0 to ½ turn of preload. Tests at Crane R&D have consistently shown best performance (for hydraulic roller cam valve trains) occurs with the preload set at 1 ¼ - 1 ½ turns down from zero lash. This adjustment will maximize power throughout the RPM range and increase the useable top end by 200 - 300 RPM. This preload setting has been confirmed on every engine family we have tested! Check the tutorial in the front of the new Crane Cams Valve Spring Catalog for spring pressure recommendations for various applications.
Before condemning parts, make sure what you’re hearing is not a exhaust leak.
Take a IR thermometer and see f all exh tubes have temp readings that are close to one another. This will tell you f you’re having a ignition misfire. Hook up a tach and with the engine running pull off plug wires one at a time and see when you do not get a rpm drop. This will narrow down which cylinder(s) you’re not hitting on.
Last edited by AzMotorhead; Oct 20, 2018 at 09:20 PM.
Good idea.
My plug wires would be impossible to remove and reattach while running due to the headers. However, a timing-light moved from plug-wire to plug-wire will show the same results. You can attach the positive side of the light to the back of the ALT post and negative anywhere to ground. Just watch the fan!
Had some time this afternoon. Did a cold compression test. ALL cylinders were 150lb. Used my timing light and checked each plug wire for spark. All had the same consistent pattern. All the plugs looked the same. Pic attached. This is after the engine had been idling for a good 10 minutes. Already had put 4 back in before i thought to take a pic.
Over all: Not bad. No apparent oil residue except maybe far right. Far left looks the best. Others almost appear carbon rich but that maybe the results of prolonged idling.
Compression is good.
Getting back to post # 1, slight miss. The thing about Chevys is the firing order and plugwire arrangement. The 5 - 7 firing being close together on the distributor cap usually results in the two plug wires contacting each other enroute to their perspective cylinders. Make sure those two wires don't touch.
