i put together a short block for a 78 camaro a few months back. very basic rebuild with a new cam and lifters, lunati pn 00017 224* @.050 and .460 lift. i changed the stock springs to whatever lunati recommends to match this cam. keep in mind all i did was the short block and installed the heads. the owner called after it was running and said it ran ok and then trailered it to get pipes and mufflers put on behind the headers. after that he tried to tune it and recheck the rockers. they said it now has a lack of power and sounds like it has a solid cam instead of hydrolic. i've not heard it run and i never checked to make sure i had hydrolic lifters or a hydrolic cam, i just figured lunati didn't mess up. i did read the cam card and it matched the cam i described in the start of this thread. i know i'm capable of messing up but i'm not sure what i may have done. i've told them to recheck timing, look for bent push rods, reset the rockers. i suspect they may have crushed the lifter(s) by over tightening the rocker nuts. any ideas? thanks.

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ICON Motorsports
1st & 3rd
MM Black Diamond 538 F&AM

 

I think you're probably not wrong, or at least not far from wrong. Sounds to me like they are all too loose, except one or 2 are too tight. That cam ought to pull pretty strong, no race car or anything but plenty of punch for the street...

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"So many Mustangs, so little time..."
ICON Motorsports

 

Sounds like they set the valve lash too tight or too loose. Did the guys that made the adjustment know what they were doing? If it ran fine until they fooled with it then I'm betting you had nothing to do with it. May want to supervise them when they readjust the valve lash this next time .

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1990 IROC 350
Mods: Too busy trying to make it run right to mod it.
Airfoil, Dynomax cat-back, MSD coil, 180 t-stat, Bald Eagle tires,
Hypertech fan switch, Accel 23# injectors, Holley AFPR, ported plenum,
Ported Daytona Yellow stock base, Moroso valve covers, other stuff,
Ruger P95DC, hot wife, new oil filter, thick rubber floormats, no cats.
18.0 @ 85MPH since I'm one big-a$$ MF
"It's better to have and not need than to need and not have."

 

to start wit ha left a voice mail message telling them how to set the rocker. when i talked to them they said it didn't seem to matter what they did they never got quiet. he has taken it to a garage to have it looked at so i have no real idea what's been done. the owner is pretty good with cars but not that good. i always tell people when i do an engine for them i don't guarentee my work since i work so cheap, but have never had any major problems. this one has me worried.

 

Ede, did they set the lash with the engine running or cold? If cold then it's almost a sure thing they screwed the pooch. Everyone screws up from time to time, but you know what you're doing and they're bound to know less. Probability points to them. Only way to tell for sure is for you to look at it again. Sorry I can't be of more help but good luck.

 

Don't know if this has anything to do with your rebuild, but on my first engine build I could'nt get the rockers to stop ticking, I tried setting the lash about 20 times, thicker oil, bent pushrod, all kinks of crap. To make a long story short I pulled the engine and found out I had the rear cam bearing installed too far and wasn't getting enough oil to the lifters. I rebuilt it again and could'nt believe how easy it was to set the lash.

Just my thought,
Dave

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92 RS, 350, Street & Performance MPFI, TFS heads, Stock crank and rods, Fordged flat tops,
Crane Rollers,
MSD Digital 6 Plus, 22lb injectors,
ZZ3 cam, Edelbrock Headers 1 5/8, 3" Exhaust,
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stock rear 3.08, koni yellow adjustable front, twin turbo glass hood, T-tops, Auto Meter Ultra Lite Series 2 5/8 gauges, Teal Green

 

Ed,

You're probably way ahead of me on this one, but did they say if there was any oil being pumped up by the lifters (to the rockers)? That would answer at least a couple of questions. And what IS the oil pressure, anyway?

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Later,
Vader
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"Let the bodies hit the floor!"
Adobe Acrobat Reader

 

yes vader that was one of my first questions and they say it sprays oil on the inner fenders ,not sure what that actuall oil preasure is but i'll assume it's pretty damn good.