[POS1SS]

Originally Posted by SSDan

I listened to your vid and understand your concerns. That doesn't sound right. What happens when you increase rpms? Does the sound change in frequency and/or volume?

Its been 6 years since I dealt with my LS3 cam failure so my recollections are a little faded when it comes to the sounds. I know that I had metallic clicking and chirping sounds for 3-4 thousand miles that concerned me but no one else including the performance shop who did the cam install seemed concerned. I was told - don't worry - those are normal injector, noisy valvetrain with headers sounds that all LS3's make.

Well one morning I was 1 block from the house and the chirping turned into a squeal. I immediately returned to the house and shut it down. I never started it again and the tear down revealed one lifter had turned and was skidding sideways over the cam lobe. I ended up with 10 damaged lifters and ten wiped cam lobes. It was obvious the damage was happening over time. The aftermarket cam and valvetrain had 17k miles of street use and 2 trips down the drag strip.

I never got a definitive answer about what caused the failure but my best guess was the cam lobes delaminated from the pressure of the high lift dual valve springs I uses (.660 rated). It was a Comp cam and there was evidence of a bad batch of Comp cams during the time mine was manufactured but Comp would never own up to it.

So, I put a new cam and lifters in it and purged the engine with 3 back to back oil changes to clear metal debris. It ran great afterwards but I lost confidence and interest in the car and sold it 4 months later.

I'm with you that pulling the head may be the only way to definitively find out what's going on. Sorry I don't have any cheery news for you. As an outside long shot - check the header bolts and exhaust gasket. Header leaks can make weird noises. Again - good luck to you.

I found it! I noticed that it only did it at idle, as you know I have a big cam so it would sit there and shake at idle, it went away when any throttle was applied. Well after some looking i noticed that where the driver side header sweeps down past the motor mount there was only less than a 1/8in gap. Shoved a piece of something in that gap and started it up and the chirp was gone, removed it and it comes back. Im guessing the radical cam and it sitting there idling its skidding across that motor mount slightly and chirping. Now I am wandering why the header is so close, less than an 1/8 of clearance cant be enough. Thanks for your help!