Valve lash

[ZeroGravity58]

Built my motor last year. Have put roughly 2k miles on it. A couple months ago I developed a slight valve tick, not to noticable cold but definitely noticable hot. Lately it has gotten louder even cold. Traced it down the the passenger side and pulled the valve cover. #7 exhaust was at .040. a few others were .020-.025. Motor has empire stg 3 AF cam, wagler pushrods, socal billet bridges, arp rocker bolts and manton springs/retainers. Cam I bought used from what I gather it's close to a socal 9100AF. I'm at a loss, everything looks good and was tight. I set the lash at .012 when I put it together. Only thing I can think it pushrods. I do spin it hard, shifts are set at 4800 right now. Thought I'd ask as I'm banging my head against the wall.

 

[JoshH]

Stock push rods? If so, I would definitely be looking at changing those with that RPM and higher pressure springs.

 

[PureHybrid]

Probably the cam or rollers taking a poo

 

[ZeroGravity58]

It has wagler pushrods. It has no metal in the oil and no wires sounds but the tap from the lash being wrong. I dont see how it would be the cam. Maybe a lifter

 

[2004LB7]

I would adjust the lash and make damn sure you tighten up the jamb nut properly and see if the noise returns later

But I would question the valve lash being the cause of the tick. Many find their lash at the same your was and no unusual noise other then maybe running slightly louder and slightly less smooth. I think the lash has got to be bigger or something else before it makes a noticeable tick

 

[Chevy1925]

I dunno, .040 is pretty damn big and can make some noise for sure.

I’d make sure your rocker bridge bolts are torqued, push rods are straight (just roll them on a flat surface), rockers are not excessively worn, and throw a bore scope down to your lifters to check the cam.

I wouldn’t assume anything until you confirm it

 

[ZeroGravity58]

I'm gonna borrow a bite scope and check the cam. That's the thing everything was tight. I checked torque on everything before pulling it apart. I cut open the oil filter it was clean. Pushrods are straight. The only thing I could think of is something got caught under a rocker bridge or something that could have worked it's way loose and opened up the lash. The whole valve train was new except for the rockers.

 

[Chevy1925]

If it helps, when I helped Steve build his motor, he did his valve lash. Somehow, his went out of wack like yours did after setting it, rotating the engine and letting it sit over night he set it again after him and I racking our brains on it and has not moved since

 

[ZeroGravity58]

Hopefully that's the case, If everything looks good a may throw a set of manton 7/16 pushrods in it for piece of mind

 

[Bdsankey]

I would pull pushrods and measure/inspect for wear as well as rolling on a flat surface like James suggested to check for straightness.

I typically avoid most things Wagler but that's my preference. I typically run everything Manton (or private label Manton like XDP) as I've never had a quality issue, pricing is reasonable, and they do what is advertised. It's also hard to go wrong with SoCal.

 

[ZeroGravity58]

The pushrods arnt bent I checked and rolled all the pass side on a table. The tip that rides on lifter looks fine, some of the cups on the top that ride on the rocker are scarred up. Enough that if I drag seal pick in the cup I can feel the ridges and they are pretty deep. The tips of the rockers look great no unusual wear or scarring. I ordered a set of 7/16 XDP pushrods. I will pull both sides apart and install and relash everything hopefully that fixes my problem. The pushrods were the only wagler product I used.

 

[malibu795]

How do you set lash? I set mine with intake open I set the exhaust for that hole.
Takes longer for sure, but there's no mistake on setting lash while in over lap with both valves are open slightly. Which is the only thing I can think of if everything mechanically checks out

 

[ZeroGravity58]

This is how I always set lash on solid rollers. I set the in intake when the exhaust is open and vis versa. Just a habit I got into when racing. I checked them twice before I put the valve covers on and for the first 1000 miles the motor was quiet.