Is this the sound of a stuck lifter? - *** UPDATE 4/8/15****

[SeaCompiler]

Originally Posted by JCunningham

if your going to do lifters. pull the old lifters 1st then the cam. Then you dont have to worry about dropping a lifter. install new cam then new lifters

Excellent suggestion. I obviously did it the hard way. I wanted to inspect the cam before I pulled the heads. I guess I could have done that and then put it back in for safety. I thought the lifters would just pull right out when I had the heads off, but the dowel rod had tension on them, so I just winged it.

[vroomapunk]

Originally Posted by SeaCompiler

VROOMAPUNK, I remember following your cam build. Your video sounds just like mine unfortunately. I remember you did it yourself - so should be a walk in the park for ya now - right? It doesn't look like the stock lifters hold up too well. I hope these LS7 lifters go a little further - if not, I will go Morel next time. I have a high lift cam custom grind.

I should get mine started back up this weekend. My goal was to be down 1 month or less. I would have taken it back to Spartan but they are busy this time of year and I can't go without my only outlet for too long and he is the only one I trust other than myself. I have really enjoyed working on it - taking my time just a few hours here and there between working full time and family. It will be good to hear it again.

If you do it yourself, just be careful when you pull out the lifters to be grabbing it while you ever-so-gently pull the dowel rod out to release pressure on the lifter so it slides up as you pull. Do one at a time and as soon as it feels like it is loose, pull it up. One slip up here and you will be pulling the engine if you don't get lucky enough and the lifter lands on the pushrods and you can grab it in the cam guide with a magnet before it falls to your doom. I labeled everything in ziploc bags and boy what a difference it made going back together.

Pulling the heads is just one step more past the cam install, so do it right and your down time will be minimal. Get some ARP bolts to put it back together and maybe some LS9 gaskets made in Germany.

I will post a video once I get it going again.

Finished diagnosing last night, process of elimination, its a dead lifter. Ordered parts this morning, hopefully have the heads off easter to see if the cam took any damage.

Yeah, I did an LS3 conversion, so I had to take the heads off and all that. This will be way easier, considering I dont have to drop and reinstall the trans, dont have to drop the oil pan, no transmission cooler to install, trunnion upgrade, tune, etc.

When I originally installed I did the ziplock bag and sharpie trick too, worked great.

Funny story, LS3 and LS7 lifters are the same part. I looked into the 200$ morel drop ins, and they are the same if not worse in most builder's opinions. Apparently to get a better lifter you need to spend over 500 per set. The LS7's have been used so much, that I still have faith in them.

I either had a defective lifter, defective comp cam, or the lifter died from too much spring pressure, I know it was all installed correctly, and it wasnt an oil problem.

Im getting new springs, .660 instead of .750. Gaskets, lifters and a new lifter tray in case the bad lifter turned. From the sound, and looking at the cam lobes I can see with the valley cover off, Im pretty sure only one lifter failed, so I just got one lifter tray instead of 4.

Plan is to check the cam with a dial indicator, see if any of the lobes are off in that respect. Then ill visually inspect them and turn the cam over a few times in each lifter passage with the lifters out to see if theres any damage.

Im hoping I caught it early enough to not have cam damage. If it does, Ill pull the cam, and get a new Cam Motion cam instead of Comp. If it doesnt, Ill put the new lifters in, throw the heads back on and be running by wednesday or thurs of next week. If I have to wait for a cam, itll be next weekend.

Thanks for the video, it helped reinforce my diagnosis!

Im an accountant and its tax season so this sucks ass, I have maybe an hour per night to work on it, and no weekend at all. If this happened on apr 16th, I could wrap it up in a day.

[SeaCompiler]

I got my car back and running again last weekend! Finally had a chance to get the front back on, buttoned up and did a local test run before taking it to work today. I guess I will be babying it a while until confidence in my work sets in.

I ultimately conducted the following:
Brian Tooley trunnion upgrade - super easy
new Cam Motion cam - same custom grind from Spartan
Brian Tooley Titanium sprint set - .660
LS9 head gaskets - made in Germany
ARP head bolts
LS7 lifters
New lifter trays
Lightly Shaved heads
Cleaned heads
Re-seated the valves with lapping tool and grinding compound
New oil and anti-freeze
other misc

I wound up pulling the engine out too which is not needed for a lifter swap, but I ashamedly dropped a lifter in the engine when trying to pull it out while pulling on the dowel rod to release pressure on it. But I took it as an opportunity to paint some parts while I had it out (no pics - sorry, but red oil pan, black engine mounts and valve covers and yellow on two front areas below the heads and black water pump and timing chain cover using all high temp engine enamel) and it sure made it easy tightening down that darn oil pickup tube bolt! I gained some cool new tools along the way (some big ones). I used the torque app and my little $12 bluetooth ODBII plugin for when the engine cranked the first time to review all critical system components. I will admit when it cranked the first time, the belt squeaked (needed cleaning) and I nearly had a heart-attack right there before shutting it off. I used an engine leveler (http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-G1021/) when pulling out the engine (through the top) and BOY what a difference it made getting it out and mating it back up!

I also wanted provide a special thanks to Bob at Cam Motion for helping to analyze my cam shaft.

Since this car was already professionally cammed and I used the same specs, I didn't have to worry about a lot of things most people do the first time around like pushrod length, PTV clearance (although I still verified it), tune, UDP, other arp bolts, oil pump upgrade and timing chain, etc.

[vroomapunk]

Sounds good man, glad you got it all back together. I did the same thing, babied it for a while until I had confidence in my work, then made a few 1/4 passes and hit 11's, awesome feeling knowing you put it together yourself.

[SeaCompiler]

Originally Posted by vroomapunk

Sounds good man, glad you got it all back together. I did the same thing, babied it for a while until I had confidence in my work, then made a few 1/4 passes and hit 11's, awesome feeling knowing you put it together yourself.

Thanks! Good luck with yours too. Not sure how lucky u are going to be with the cam though. Tax season is only a few more days, so hopefully it slows down after the 15th. Congrats on 11's btw.

[WHAMMO]

You have serious balls running the same lifters again...

[Cornflakes'Camaro]

Good to hear you got your cam issue straightened out SeaCompiler! Hope everything goes well for you from here out buddy.

[SeaCompiler]

Originally Posted by Cornflakes'Camaro

Good to hear you got your cam issue straightened out SeaCompiler! Hope everything goes well for you from here out buddy.

Thanks for the followup! Running great and learned a lot (was able to show my son a few things too). He had fun running the lapping tool re-seating the valves. Get that energy out! Had to work inside that day - too cold out.

[Cornflakes'Camaro]

That's awesome ^^^