That's awesome!

 

I can appreciate that..Babafat asked who's Christine...lol

 

LOL, Eric that's so wrong on many levels.

 

A worn out retainer was a bad sign, was it on that cylinder? I have never seen a badly worn out, factory cam in an Olds V8. A 70's sbc is a different story, nearly everyone eventually went flat. Even heard of them breaking in half. When I put the generic 204/214 cam in my 403, I thought there was break in issues. I had a dent in the valve cover over the noise. Found the bridge didn't torque down properly for some reason, maybe the dent caused it. I put a new lifter in and retorqued plus removed the dent and no more noise. It sounds almost like you have too much preload with a bent push rod.

 

While the heads were off did you have the stem height checked? Maybe a tight guide or two? That's a lot of work to do just to replace a retainer IMO. Or... maybe it's time for some aluminum heads and an aftermarket cam!

 

the heads were in great shape i mean awesome stem height was measured by a shop down the road that used to valve jobs back in the day. i think the idea the lifter with the bent pushrod is messing up is potentialy it because it sounds like its pushing the lifter back down the engine was rebuilt so i assumed the previous owner but a new cam in it but as far as the valve springs the worn retainer was actually the wrong retainer but there others are fine checked them all and made sure spring height was good the valve cover is def not hitting anything i mean the sound is actually louder with it off then on.
the retainer was not on the number 5 cylinder which is the bandit cylinder

 

Is it possible that the pushrod you bought is too short?

Could the deck height have been changed in the rebuild (not uncommon), and the rebuilder used new, slightly longer pushrods (usually, they end up shorter, but bear with me), and then you bought a "correct-length" pushrod, which was actually too short?

Have you compared the length of your new pushrod to the lengths of the other pushrods?

- Eric

 

yes the lenghs are exactly the same i have a feeling its a collasped lifter or worn cam lobe, because all the others sound great and none have lost there prime. im going to get a cam ordered by the end of the week if someone could reccomend a good one also the steps to install one correctly.

 

Mark (CutlassEFI) can steer you right on a cam, if you know all of your engine's specifications.

- Eric

 

ok i watched christine last night thats terrifying i have more faith in my car lol

 

by the way if anyone happens to have an extra camshaft lying around lmao lemme know id love to work something out

 

Have you isolated your problem to the cam?

 

I don't get to this subforum much, but just read through it all. Since op tightens up 1 side of offending bridge and 5seconds later it starts up again, could the boss for that particular bolt have a hairline crack, so bolt won't stay put? Or could bolt be too long, now that he's been filing the bridge?

 

ive got new bolts since i broke one a week ago so the bolt is fresh but ive only been playing around with the filing im not running them all the time just trying them and then swapping the new ones back on. the manifold is gonna come off tommorow and ill be able to get a look at the cam

 

Alright, So tommorow im going to take the intake manifold off ive got a couple of spare lifters in case its as simple as a collapsed lifter. Ive got some emry cloth so i can sand up the manifold and paint it while its off. And since its going to be off I really need help understanding how to swap out the cam since im going to have the manifold off im gonna go ahead and replace everything that isnt new while im in it.

P.S. Any ideas what i should i do as far resto goes while ive got the manifold off? Lemme know thanks guys.

-Baba Fats

 

To swap the cam, you need to remove the timing cover as well, which involves slightly dropping the oil pan - whole 'nother can o' worms.

- Eric

 

Lets wait until we see what's going on in there to determine a plan of attack.

 

olkie dokie will let you know whats going on inside how do i tell is the lifter is collapsed

 

ok i got the intake off how can i tell if the lifter has lost its prime or collapsed also how can i tell if the cam lobe is worn get back as soona s you can

 

Ok so the manifold is off and ive been running inspection on everything i can, the lifters all look fine the one that is suspect seems like its either locked up or something, the cam lobes look fine but im not an expert but there are no major wear marks or lines and the bottoms of all the lifters look great. i double checked all the pushrods again and they are all straight. the only thing i have left to try is what Oldscutlass suggested which is file the stem down to match the amount of movement in the other pushrods with the one in suspect. im kind of scared to do that and was wondering if there is a more permanet solution. thanks a million guys get back to me as soon as you can as im trying to either put her back togther today or order anything i might need so i can put her back together without having to oull her apart later on this coming week but if i ahve to oh well.

 

If everything checks out, then the only thing left is the thickness of the head gasket that's affecting the distance of the top of the head to the block. Since there is no adjustment in the valve geometry then the only thing you can do is remove some metal from the bottom of the stands until that installed rocker assembly pushes the lifter plunger down the same amount as the rest. There is something different on that one cylinder, either cam wear or valve stem height.

 

... or something with the lifter. I'd consider taking it apart to see it everything inside is clean and functioning properly - instructions are in the CSM.

- Eric

 

ok well ive taken a good look at the cam lobe on the one in suspect and it looks no different than the rest, now i used the stem that ive taken 1/16x2 off of and the lifter on the suspect still wont push down i have a feeling its seized or something

 

The lifter shouldn't push down. If it did, that would be bad.
It's supposed to be full of oil and resistant to compression.

But it could still have a leak, so I'd take a look inside.

- Eric

 

ok i just checked the retaining rings on all the valve springs the one one the suspect lifter and rocker was worn down on the outside of the ring causing the valve to sit lower than it should ive replaced with new retainers and the height came back up all the other springs are at height

 

Sorry, that just doesn't make any sense. Can you post a pic of the worn area of the retainer? I think you should at least replace the lifters on that cylinder if you going to put it all back together now. Sticky lifters can be hard to catch in the act.

 

+1. This sounds quite odd, and we haven't seen any pictures of any of this stuff yet.

By "retaining rings" do you mean "retainers," like this:





If so, can you indicate which part of the retainer was worn on this drawing:



I'm very curious about what went on here.

- Eric

 

ok guys so i got rid of the noise the problem is the retaining locks that hold the valve stem inside of the spring the picture above doesnt look worn but for some reason the retainng locks the two pieces that hold the stem inside of the spring were worn on the outside causing slack in the valve height now im pretty sure that in the picture above on mine is also worn because i have a box of the retaining locks and its doing fine so far but if it comes back im pretty sure the picture above on mine is worn and needs to be replaced so the retaining locks dont wear again

 

All new lifters rocker arms bridges rocker arm pivots pushrods the springs are fine checked there tension. The only thing that could be worn would be the cap your showing me in the picture, ive replaced the locks and ordered a new cap (above) the sound is gone but im assuming if the cap is worn the retainer locks will wear out again.

 

the keepers were worn but im pretty sure the retainer is worn as the outside of the keepers were worn down, ive replaced the keepers and the sound is gone. But im assuming if it comes back then the retainer has worn out, but for now the sound is gone ive ordered a new retainer just in case.

 

Wow. That's a new one!

Glad you got 'er fixed!

- Eric

 

yeah i only pulled have my hair out lol but just another bump in the road

 

Although I've never seen the keepers and cap wear on the stock valve train, anything is possible. Hopefully it's fixed.

 

the new keepers have been in for 3 days and they haven't worn down so im hopeful but not to hopefull