[oldman]

if money is not an issue, and you are sure the VVT is locked, I'd guy adjustable rollers rockers and be done with it.

[SSDan]

Originally Posted by Darth Martel

I think I have one more question...

Is the source of the ticking definitely caused by the pushrods being too long? Or is it possible the ticking can be fixed with an adjustment of something?

I'm sorry you are in such a pickle on this - stuck between the local shop and the company who supplied the cam kit. While we have all talked a lot about push rod length and preload measurements - it may well be that your push rod length is not the issue. The push rods may be fine and you were the victim of getting a bad batch of lifters.

Also these LT1 engines have noisy valve trains anyway. The DI injectors in particular make a lot of ticking sounds. It could be you are OK and have the normal ticking and clicking we all have.

How does the car run? Is the ticking constant? Is it rpm dependent? Is it more noticeable when the engine is cold or hot?

Good luck and best wishes for a good outcome

[oldman]

The problem I see, say the VVT is not locked. Your valves are hitting the piston, trying to diagnose the problem could lead to a complete loss of the engine.

[6spdhyperblue]

Originally Posted by oldman

The problem I see, say the VVT is not locked. Your valves are hitting the piston, trying to diagnose the problem could lead to a complete loss of the engine.

Totally feasible. OP, You might be able to fix via tune for the meantime. Can you post the tune?

[oldman]

once the valves kiss the pistons, a tune may fix the VVT, but the valves are already stressed, and we dealing with fragile stock hollow valves.

[6spdhyperblue]

True that

[Darth Martel]

morning all, thanks so much for the replies. I really appreciate the input.

Is there a way to verify VVT is locked? I know the kit came with a phase limiter kit. And I would expect the tune would already have that locked. I don't know how I would verify anything the installer would have done in locking the VVT but, if you explain to me how to check and verify, I'll do so.

I can't share my tune. Out of respect for Ted Jannetty, I just don't think that would be right. Jannetty Racing is where I purchased my kit from and where I got the tune and most of my performance mods for my car, except appearance mods and the porting I sent to PRAY. I modded my 2010 Camaro with Ted and have been a satisfied and loyal customer since. I've emailed Ted about my situation and I'm waiting for a reply on recommendations on what to do next. JRE is who is hammering out the lifter issue with Texas Speed. JRE was doing a build around the same time as mine and their master mechanic also had a lifter fail. Seems a strange coincidence so, I'm thinking there was just a bad batch of those lifters.

The good news is that I was able to drive the car home from the installer's without any codes or misfires or anything pointing to there being a problem with the engine OTHER than the ticking noise. That ticking noise was constant from when I fired up the car until I pulled it into the garage and shut it down. It varied depending on how much gas I gave it, either while driving or in park. So, it's not like it went away after it warmed up. It's always there. Which is why I'm afraid to drive it for fear of damaging anything.

At this point, I'm waiting to hear back from Ted to see if it's something we can tune out or if I'm just going to need to dive in and start checking things. I guess my question to the group is, if I'm getting into the engine, what are the things I should be looking at and verifying and/or adjusting? Lifter preload? Lash? VVT? What would your logical process be?

[6spdhyperblue]

Well the plot has certainly thickened

[Darth Martel]

Latest update. Lifters are NOT Johnson. I don't know what brand lifters they are but, they're not Johnson. To be continued...

[Darth Martel]

another update... JRE is convinced all the lifters are pooh and need replacing.

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaatttttttttttttt

Is there a particular guide I should be using for this? Most guides I've seen are more about doing the cam swap and just kinda gloss over the lifters, rockers, etc...

[oldman]

It is my opinion based on many decades of street engine building, that only a gentle ramp cam sub .600 lift with the best of EVERYTHING can go 100K miles with a valve spring every 20K to 50K. I leave it to others to say otherwise, I'll just ask if they offer any warranty on their stuff and we ALL know what that answer is right? Ligenfelter's cam / head package is $10,000 with a three year warranty 36K mile warranty. You can bet a good chunk of that 10K is for warranty purposes. So I'll let the warranty of lack there of speak the truth.

I was looking at Pray's site and he is working with a conical spring and TI intake valve to bring the rev to 7200 vs 7000 for a hollow valve dual spring setup. It does go to show you what is needed to hold everything in contact together. I have a 7350 fuel cut on a much gentler lift without the need (so far) to go to steps Pray is taking. I would suspect Pray would tell his customers change the spring every 20K and of course only run the best of the best in the entire valvetrain. I'm SURE my gentle ramp (cam motion) sub .600 lift cam is leaving "big" power on the table. Say 30 to 50 HP on a max street build. Gotta pay to play.

So to sum it up, at least for me, best of the best including the valve, gentle ramp cam, sub .600 lift, check / change valve springs every 20K, I realistically believe that I have a 50% to 80% chance of my engine going to 100K before valve-train failure. 7000rpm red line, 7350rpm fuel cut.
For a GM hot cam and the recommend stock valve spring (or similar) I would think 75 to 90% chance to go 100K miles, 6600 RPM fuel cut, 6600 RPM red line. I'd change the spring at 50K, maybe even 33K.

I just checked with Hennessy and they do NOT offer a cam / heads package for the LT1, pretty sure they used to. So that would be the only other vendor that offered a warranty. Probably goes to show you about the dependability long term of any cam package.

What does this all mean for you? You have an aggressive ramp cam, better think of $$$$$ on every part and change valve springs often and it were my ride, I'd inspect the cam for wear via the valley cover every 10K or 6 months, and at the very least every 30 K / 3 years.


Now I don't know all vendor or warranties. I am saying that there is are two vendor that I know about that offers a cam warranty and it is $10K for 3 years 36,000 miles for Lightener and huge $$$$ for 10K miles / 1 year on some of the FI Hennessy packages that do include a cam like their 1000 HP ZR1 setup.

[oldman]

Originally Posted by Darth Martel

Is there a particular guide I should be using for this? Most guides I've seen are more about doing the cam swap and just kinda gloss over the lifters, rockers, etc...

That is because high lift, fast ramp cams make HP and it is HP that sells cams. Same cam should really be run with EVERYTHING replaced from valves to the C5R rimming chain.. there is literally NOTHING, OK maybe just maybe the exhaust valve (solid) that is stock can be used. So if it came from GM and you still have it in your engine... sumting ain't right.
Valves, retainer, keepers (maybe), trunion (minimally prefer true rollers), rocker bolts, pushrods, EXPENSIVE lifter, cam, VVT full lock, C5R timing chain.

What you may use OEM, keepers, stock rocker with trunion and rocker bolt upgrade (issue on bolt length), exhaust valve, stock LT4 intake valve.

The only thing even remotely controversial about the above is some will say the factory hollow intake valves are sufficient and they would throw all kinds of caveats. IMO if you can't afford undercut head solid ProFlows you should not be in the high lift cam, fast ramp profile, and / or FI game.

[cmitchell17]

It feels like finding the correct point of zero lash is really subjective. If I remember correctly I think there was about a half a turn in between of my rocker arm being loose but still sliding on top of the valve spring to being fully solid and not being able to move it anymore.

It looks easy in the videos but when you are doing it especially if you are OCD you will be second guessing yourself at the true lash point.

[oldman]

I thought the Katech video was the easiest to do, understand and not screw up. Of course different lifters have different preloads.