Lifter Noise??

S6301642.flv video by tara72689 - Photobucket
Recently put in a 229/229 .638/.640 114.5lsa cam in the motor for gigglez. Wanted a good top end Screamer. The First vid^ is when the motor is first cranked before it is warmed up. Sounds decent aside from the idle rpm is way high being its untuned
S6301644.flv video by tara72689 - Photobucket
^ this is what the truck sounds like after a few minutes. Once the oil thins out from heat maybe?? Sounds like a lifter to me gone BADDDD. I have checked plug, plug wire, rechecked torque on the rocker arms, etc. It sounds bad enough to cause motor issues to me. Its only on the drivers side and if I drive the truck for awhile it will quite down a LIL bit and even to the point it will be silent at idle. But will start making noise at 2k plus... ANY ideas?? How harmful is what Im hearing? Opinions?

Have you checked piston to valve clearance with that cam? I'd start there first... doesn't sound good.

^^^^ my thoughts exactly.....

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x...P1010074-1.jpg

Stock lifters? and what size pushrods?

What springs do you have? Sounds like the valves are banging on the pisons to me!!

This cam was put in a stock 5.3L... with stock pistons? I take it the springs are good to .650 also? Not that it matters, after paying closer attention to your setup... I'd go with my first guess as to PTV slap.

that does sound liek valves hitting

definitely sounds like the rocker arms are hitting the valve covers. Locate/borrow a bore scope and pull a few spark plugs, look for dings in the piston tops from the valves. Pull the valve covers and look for traces of the rocker arms hitting them. My .610 lift cam hits the rockers on the valve covers so that has got to be pounding it if you've got aftermarket rockers, for sure.

Alright guys. Here is the skinny. I have no idea what a bore scope is haha. BUT yes I firmly believe it is PTV issues at this point. Talked to Virgil a bit after he heard this. IT was a possibility from the beginning. I knew that. And ding ding ding truck guys from this site and also QST win the experiment. Thunder Racing claimed this cam would have NO ptv issues. It was listed as a 227 xtreme. The specs I listed were directly off the cam sheet though. I asked 2 sales people. After asking qst memebers and members from this site what their opinions of the cam specs were and TOLD it could most likely experience PTV problems.I had thunder racing ask others around (told the ones that work on them were asked)if it was going to happen. It was a FIRM no. I needed to not worry about it. Kind of a "who you going to believe, we deal with these motors everyday. Its our job. This was the cam for you." According to them. Even after I made clear this motor is a 5.3. LM7. It only has a 59cc head on it. SO plan is I call them Thursday. See what they have to say for themselves. Ill keep you posted. Either way at this point. The heads haft to come off. Valves will be beat to crap and piston will be useless. If thunder racing says Im on my own cause they didnt write down they said it.... welp Ill prob go find a core lq9, Have it sent off ,rebuilt, Run some decent heads on it with the exact cam that caused this problem. Its the cheapest route I can come up with while staying somewhat on schedule aside from not getting to race at SAR. Ill check the PTV clearence myself this time instead of taking a large company's word....

Sad isn't it that companies would tell customers such things.... Sad

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Originally Posted by PurpleMinivan

Sad isn't it that companies would tell customers such things.... Sad

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No its expected to a point... BUT since ALL freaking cam's that are off the shelf (which that one is) are the same price why didnt they just advise a tr224 if this was a possibility. Maybe those PROS should do as much research as the people that advised me against listening to those PROS.

Heres a good thread from PT.net
Read the whole thing, there are a few good links in there too

Maybe it might help

Ian, it is definitely in the valvetrain. Greg brought up a good point about the rockers hitting the valve cover. But I would think that the valves would hit the pistons before the rockers would hit the valve covers--especially on a 5.3L with stock heads/stock ratio rockers/stock valvecovers.

PTV mayne! I heard that SAME noise on Dale's LS1 before it said bye-bye. But it wasn't that loud. You don't HAVE to take the heads off...you can just remove the cam and replace it with another one that doesn't have EFFIN .640 lift!!!!!! I can almost guarantee that you will see eyebrows on a few of the pistons if you take the heads off. You may have to look close since you spray and the cylinder heads should be clean, but even with that little of run time, you will see where the valves are kissing the pistons.

Sorry to hear all of that man. That just goes to show you not to listen to some companies when it comes to this stuff. I am not gunna say "I told you so" from when you had asked us about the cam issue in the other thread, but I told you so. :D

If I was you (someone who wants a big cam for a 5.3L that will scream on the top end), I would get a cam with a little more duration and just under .600 lift...like the TSP Torquer v.2 cam. Trust me, I have driven a 5.3L truck with that cam and it pulls to 7000 RPM.

At this point running it without pulling it apart would be retarded. While thinking it was a screwed up lifter it seen normal driving and WOT a few times. Its very well could be just waiting on destruction. Its over for that motor as far as im concerned. Im not buying ANOTHER 400 dollar cam to put in a motor that could be on borrowed time, screw that. Ill build a bigger motor that will handle this cam. A good high reving 6.0 should be fine. And as soon as I get it running and have a intake and all things FINISHED with the motor Ill take this cam out and have one spec'd. Then hang it on a wall as a reason to not trust large companies.

Oh. I was presuming that the motor had only been run for the few minutes that was shown on the vids.

But yeah, the pistons may have gotten weak and you may have slightly bent the valves a little.

One thing you could do--which would be fun--is to put some 4.8L flat top pistons and do Stage 2.5 862/706 heads with a little bit larger valves (2.02" intake/1.575" exhaust Valves) in that motor with the TBSS intake and 150 shot. It would haul ass!

I am always use to having piston slap. Its just to big.

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Originally Posted by txarkitekt

Ian, it is definitely in the valvetrain. Greg brought up a good point about the rockers hitting the valve cover. But I would think that the valves would hit the pistons before the rockers would hit the valve covers--especially on a 5.3L with stock heads/stock ratio rockers/stock valvecovers.

PTV mayne! I heard that SAME noise on Dale's LS1 before it said bye-bye. But it wasn't that loud. You don't HAVE to take the heads off...you can just remove the cam and replace it with another one that doesn't have EFFIN .640 lift!!!!!! I can almost guarantee that you will see eyebrows on a few of the pistons if you take the heads off. You may have to look close since you spray and the cylinder heads should be clean, but even with that little of run time, you will see where the valves are kissing the pistons.

Sorry to hear all of that man. That just goes to show you not to listen to some companies when it comes to this stuff. I am not gunna say "I told you so" from when you had asked us about the cam issue in the other thread, but I told you so. :D

If I was you (someone who wants a big cam for a 5.3L that will scream on the top end), I would get a cam with a little more duration and just under .600 lift...like the TSP Torquer v.2 cam. Trust me, I have driven a 5.3L truck with that cam and it pulls to 7000 RPM.

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i ran the Tv2 in the past and i wouldnt run it again. studies have shown the tv2 is actually down on power compared to the 224 high lift. i had this cam and it dropped off at 6400 badly and i had supporting mods

Weird. I have driven a truck with that cam + supporting mods and it absolutely screams and pulls to the 7100 RPM shift points. On a 5.3L with truck intake.

Must be in the tune.... :D

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Originally Posted by txarkitekt

Weird. I have driven a truck with that cam + supporting mods and it absolutely screams and pulls to the 7100 RPM shift points. On a 5.3L with truck intake.

Must be in the tune.... :D

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even their site says 1800 to 6400.

Yeah, but as we have read, the company that sold Ian that cam said it wouldn't have PTV issues either.

My friend who has that cam has done several dyno runs...and the curve doesn't ever stop climbing until the guy let off the gas at 7100 rpms...

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Originally Posted by txarkitekt

Yeah, but as we have read, the company that sold Ian that cam said it wouldn't have PTV issues either.

My friend who has that cam has done several dyno runs...and the curve doesn't ever stop climbing until the guy let off the gas at 7100 rpms...

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anyways, before ppl jump the gun and blame TSP on this one. how does anyone know that the cam was installed correctly? for all we know he could be a tooth off on the sprocket. So before everyone jumps to conclusions why not have teh OP tear it down and see the end result.

yes 640 is a lot of lift and 229 has some duration however the MS4 has 649 lift and much higher duration on a tigher LSA and clears stock motors easily. him having smaller valves and dished pistons should give him more clearance then a LS1 would

remember they sell the MS4 and 5.3s to ls1s as packages. not defending tsp but we have no idea on the truth till it is torn down

True. Was this a TSP cam? I thought it was from TR?

This is all speculation still. I am with George--now knowing the run time of this motor with that noise, I would tear it down. I would also like to see the timing dots on the crank and cam gears.

Ian has been around a few cam swaps, so I would presume he knows whats going on...

Ian, are the heads shaved? I thought I remembered a while back you had a set of a heads shaved down a ton, like maybe .030".

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Originally Posted by RedHeartbeat

Ian, are the heads shaved? I thought I remembered a while back you had a set of a heads shaved down a ton, like maybe .030".

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Now that you mention it...I think I remember the same. But I am not sure if he had those installed or not.

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Originally Posted by txarkitekt

Oh. I was presuming that the motor had only been run for the few minutes that was shown on the vids.

But yeah, the pistons may have gotten weak and you may have slightly bent the valves a little.

One thing you could do--which would be fun--is to put some 4.8L flat top pistons and do Stage 2.5 862/706 heads with a little bit larger valves (2.02" intake/1.575" exhaust Valves) in that motor with the TBSS intake and 150 shot. It would haul ass!

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Problem with that idea is that I still end up buying a 400 dollar cam. AGAIN. To me I can trash the 5.3 all together and run 6.0. Can get a core short block for 350ish. The 5.3 was getting pulled and having 4.8 pistons put in it after SAR. I already have those pistons at the house. BUT as much as I drove it I wouldnt doubt in the least if some debris could have already messed up the walls a lil. Which would mean it would need bored over possibly.... Since I was going to replace all the bearing, races, rod bolts, have the crank turned and everything balanced. I can just spend the 400 bucks for a new cam on a new block. And come out with a 364 instead of a 326.....

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Originally Posted by Show&Go

....I wouldnt doubt in the least if some debris could have already messed up the walls a lil...

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If a chunk of something was floating around, you would know it--trust me. The motor may seem fine right now, but as a safe measure, I would go ahead and get rid of the 5.3L pistons and throw in the 4.8L ones. Then buy some new valves for those heads you plan on having worked.

And then get a cam that isn't so freakin big for a 5.3L motor. :D

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Originally Posted by RedHeartbeat

Ian, are the heads shaved? I thought I remembered a while back you had a set of a heads shaved down a ton, like maybe .030".

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When I was looking at those heads and having that work done it was going to mill down a set of 243s around .030. These heads are unmolested in all ways. Only thing on these are springs. Ironically I recently found out I think my heads are stock 61ish cc. I have always thought stock was 59cc. I told TR my heads were 59cc. Which means they were not off a lil on it would fit with 59cc heads they were off ALOT

Stock 4.8L/5.3L 862/706 heads ARE 61.15 cc.