i saw a post about roller rockers and it got me to thinkin

i run cran cams roller rockers with screw in studs, hardened pushrods and guideplates

is it normal for the valve train to make noise? its not valve lash noise because that makes a different sound when i adjust the valves, i could understand the noise from the pushrods rubbing/hitting the guidplates????

mine has always(4 yrs) made noise, is this normal?

 

does nobody run roller rockers???

 

rob? anyone? am i a complete idiot? noones heard of this?

 

what type of cam are you running, if it's a solid lifter cam then you have the lash and yes it's has some noise to it just because of that. If it's hyd then how much noise are we talking about here? Yes there is some extra noise due to the pushrods hitting the guide plates expecially on canted valve engines, and also since it's stud mount the fulcrum is not bolted down solid so it can have some noise associated with that so I guess the basic answer to your question is yes there is a little more associated with roller rockers than the factory setups.

 

thanks rob

im running a hyd cam, fairly mild.....i ran a 226/234 dur @ .050 before for about 2-3 yrs with the same noises, recently did a cam and lifter swap to my milder cam and still get the exact same noises.

after i run the motor really hard (like a hillclimb @ 5k for a bit) the ticking noises get alot louder. then they settle down a bit. they seem sensitive to the thickness of the oil. when i first crank the truck they are non existant, the thinner and hotter the oil gets the noises become more noticable.
but i have adjusted the valves many times with the motor hot and the ticking from valve lash whn i loosen each rocker is a sllightly different sound than the ticking i hear.
ive been dealing with this for 3-4 yrs now, and im stumped.

the only thing thaty gets me is the noise is sensitive to the oil thickness/tempurature, which makes me think valve lash, but then again i dont friggin know. everytime i check the lash, they are all in 3/4 a turn just like i set them, not loosened up

 

bump

adding more words anyone?

 

could excessive noise be caused by pushrods that are too short? i run stock length chromoly rods with guidplates, which the guideplate being under the stud raises the rocker up. Will the geometry being slightly off from having stock length pushrods matter? i woudl think the adjustment in the rocker would make everything fine?

 

the geometry need to be measure at the valve tip, I take a felt tip marker and color the top of the valve with it then install the rocker at proper lash, and roll the engine over by hand 2 times then remove the rocker and look at the pattern it should be centered on the valve and fairly small. If it is to one side or the other of the valve then you have a pushrod length issue. do this on both an exhaust and intake.

 

im still fighting this noise....after a hard run such as a hill climb, i can hear the noise over my exhaust easily at idle

think it could be caused by the wrong oil gallery plug or something of that nature???

 

heres som more info....

i got the motor in a 79 f-150 i bought. It was rebuilt and installed by a shop in montana evidently and had only 13k miles on it... It was a stock rebuild with an edelbrock performer intake, 600 carb and mild cam, stock d3 heads and 72 block with dished pistons

I pulled it out and put it in the current truck....

ran it for awhile...always ran good, made good oil pressure and made no noises!

Then in 2002 i put some ported dove's with 2.19/1.76 valves, crane roller rockers, guideplates and hardened pushrods, cop cams extreme 4x4 cam with 226/234 duration at .050"

straight up timing chain, perf rpm intake etc etc

i never could get it to stop making this valve clacking noise...

It is non existant at startup, but it seems the hotter the oil gets the louder the noise.. Ive adjusted the valves a million times everywhere from 1/4 turn to 1 turn after the lash is taken up.....same thing no matter what

in fall of 05 i pulled the front clip and s3wapped to the 210/218 extreme 4x4 cam, new lifters, same hardened cromoly pushrods and crane cams roller rockers....all new gaskets etc etc...

btw the old cam had no damaged lifters or any damaged lobes on the cam...

properly broke this new cam in with a high zinc content oil....

makes the exact same noises as it did with the old cam, no matter how the valves are adjusted, i havetried everything from 5-30, 10-30, 10-40. 15-40 and 20-50, i run a motorcraft filter...nothing changes it...

oil pressure is 50 psi at idle when cold, 20-25 when hot

at 1500 rpm its 75psi cold, 35-50 depending on degree of load on engine when hot

what i dont understand is why it didnt make these noises before i swapped heads and cam??

that makes me think its not an oil gallery plug problem

could there be trash somewhere in the oil passages???

would this be a geometry problem?(i woudlntthink so since its only when hot)

Could this be a volume and or pressure problem??

ANYONE HAVE ANY IDEAS???

im tired of running it like this because it just dont sound right!!!!

 

at 1:45-1:48 in this video you can hear the clatter from the slightly hard run over the exhaust

If i woudl have stayed on it it would be much louder

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6nHtpPdp1s

 

Funny you mentioned the noise. Mine has a SMALL clicking as well with FMS roller rockers for the pedestal mount. Not loud though. I checked geometery and even checked preload with a dial indicator.

I am running dampner springs inside the regular springs. They are a little shorter than the regular spring. I wonder if the noise I hear is them making contact on the ends while being compressed?

Did you remove the baffles in the factory covers?

 

maybe you're getting it hot and it's getting preignition/detonation. You raised your CR with the heads. Also, even if the CR is still "tolerable" for the gas, raising it in some ways will cause it. Example: a Mopar 400 has the pistons down in the hole really far. the head is a REALLY open chamber. puting closed chambers on it may only raise the CR to 9-9.5:1, but with no quench (from the pistoms being so deep), it'll preignite and detonate.

I would try running some high octane and see if it still does it after a hard run like that.

 

....would also explain why it does it hot and not cold. more heat=more chance of preignition. AND at idle, you don't have as much air flow, so it'd also seem to be more noticeable.

 

ive never heard detonation that sounded like that

i have to run 93 in it....otherwise i get the detonation sound....it just sounds like regular pinging