Recently installed a BTR Stage 2 cam, springs and pushrods, trunnion upgrade, melling oil pump, ATI balancer and new chain and when driving the valvetrain is much louder. Doesn’t sound like a tick or knock, almost sounds like a sewing machine. You can really hear it when driving next to another car or building.

is this normal?

 

The trunion kit is supposed to quiet the sewing machine sounds (it did on my car) not make them louder. Did you check the needed pushrod length with a tool before you installed new pushrods? What brand of a chain did you install? And last, was the cam you removed in good condition?

 

Had a performance shop do the work. But the cam that came out looks brand new and we went with the Katech C5R timing chain. I assume they checked for pushrod length as they’ve done a ton of these but can’t say for certain.

 

Can you get a video?? might not be what you described?

 

Cammed LS motors are described sounding like sewing machines often
Especially with headers

 

No matter the cause of noise, you only have a narrow limited options to choose from moving forward.

Option 1: Diagnose
For examples, Check the push rod lengths yourself.
Put a stethoscope on every rocker(the area around it including exhaust and intake tubes and the head) to see if one cyl has a noticeable difference in tone/pitch tapping.
Change the oil viscosity, if the noise gets softer with increasing viscosity this points to lifters noise possibly bottoming out (too long pushrods or collapsing/clogged passages).
Inspect every spring and rocker and rotate rockers by hand feeling for smooth operation if you take them off. Check to make sure they all have oil inside/on them.
Check the cups where the pushrods sit and check the ends of the pushrods for abnormal wear. Sometimes during cam swaps people forget to oil the rocker before starting so its dry and suffers friction abnormal wear somewhere on the body.
Watch the oil reach the top of the pushrods on a cold start and after running the engine hot to make sure its all the same on every cyl more or less.

Option 2: change parts
Swap a different set of lifters/springs/rockers/etc...
The most pressure I use on a typical LS head of early year range (99-12) is around 320lbs open and 140lbs seat. This is enough pressure from a single spring to support around 800 to 1000rwhp forced induction application. The weak link of the LS valvetrain is fundamentally starting at the lifters. Any additional pressure beyond this is unnecessarily harsh on lifters and may contribute to early lifter failure and loud tapping noise from the engine. If you used something stiffer and can't stand the noise consider using a lighter spring and lower lift cam to relief the lifter from stress and perhaps it will reduce noise.
Another thing that might help in change parts is the soft mat under the intake manifold, often it is left out or destroyed during removal or age, make sure the soft foam material is replaced brand new in the front and back of the intake(or wherever applicable) it might help with noise.
Using a more OEM style lifter may also help reduce noise (if the lift and spring pressure is low enough to support by it) such as federal mogul or similar OEM style manufacturer (no fancy 'racing' or aftermarket supplier lifters).

Option 3: Get video
Lets hear it
Many will probably say its normal and to live with it
But this is one of those areas of car enthusiast gray area where a 'tapping noise' can be misleading or completely different from what is expected and the noise itself can become misunderstood over the video depending on a microphone and so on so I recommend a thorough diagnostic and make a decision from there about whether to swap parts or live with it or what

 

I have a similar setup, only used the btr stage 3 cam. Btr dual springs, TI retainers, 7.40 11/32" pushrods and btr trunnion upgrade. It was noisy, I was only getting .25 a turn from zero lash to 22 ft pounds on the rockers with the 7.40's. Last weekend I switched to 7.425 11/32" pushrods. That got me to about one full turn from zero lash that I felt better about and it did quiet it down a bit. But its still noisy compared to stock. I think I'm not going to worry about it. I have a much more aggressive camshaft and the springs really shut those valves hard. The cars not a daily driver at all and its a riot to drive now. Worst case scenario is I wear out the valve train early but since I might only put 1500-2000 miles on it a year, that's a long time. I'll do a head swap with new better lifters before I worry about that too much.

YMMV

 

Moved to C5 Tech.

 

The clatter is normal with an aftermarket cam. Even my little Comp FSL cam does it. I think it's a function of the rebuilt rocker arms.

 

Did you ad headers at the same time? If so they will make the noise seem louder

 

Sorry for the late reply, finally got around to getting a video. Here is the link:
I did install American Racing Headers last year.

 

I don't hear anything unusual

 

Seems like my phone didn’t pick it up well, but you can hear it in the first few seconds of the video. It’s a lot louder in person.

 

Some cam grinds close the valves faster than others, if you didn't hear this with the old cam it might be the new one closing the valves faster causing the noise.

 

Mine has comp 921 springs and sounds like an old flat tappet solid lifter SBC until it warms up. May be normal but not a bad idea to check pushrod length. Loved the early sbc,no head pulling to access the lifters...

 

This is a hit or miss with these valvetrain. As long they all sound the same your one of the unlucky one, with a loud lifters.

 

The only thing I hear is road noise and exhaust.

 

Could be it, never had this noise before throwing an aftermarket cam in it.

 

Option 4: performance clearance the parts by dumping the clutch and holding it to 5000rpm for thirty seconds. It's gonna solve it. Or it's gonna not.