WTF would cause this? Reply #15 – April 11, 2010, 12:49:30 PM China parts are certainly a factor! The other is the change in the oil formulation. Roller cams in new cars began to be common in the mid 1980's -25 years ago! The zinc required for the older engines was deemed unnecessary and eliminated. Hence, lots of flat lobed flat tappet cams after a failed break in. It is a serious problem if you choose to stay flat tappet. It's a shoot at best if it survives the break in.Following the instructions to a "T" is a great idea, but first find out why that thing was clacking so bad. It sure sounded like coil bind to me (ask me how I know...). Quote Selected
WTF would cause this? Reply #16 – April 12, 2010, 10:24:50 AM This is just me but I would never run a parts store oil in anything but a lawn mower. I usually use 10W40 on break in as well as a Motorcraft filter.What motor was this going into and what heads? Did you use an adjustable push rod to determine the correct push rod length? Another good thing to do is to roll the motor over by hand and see if you are getting into coil bind prior to starting the motor.All I can say is this sucks and I do feel your pain as this happened to me once. Never ran a flat tappet cam again, roller all the way on all our motors.Darren Quote Selected
WTF would cause this? Reply #17 – April 12, 2010, 02:38:10 PM Back in the early 90's when my dad and I were racing (circle dirt) we had a whole batch of lifters that were doing that very same as well as alot of other cars at the track it ended up being a bad batch, bad alloy, from the manufactuer. Quote Selected
WTF would cause this? Reply #18 – April 13, 2010, 11:17:12 AM what is the installed height of the springs? was it checked? Quote Selected
WTF would cause this? Reply #19 – April 14, 2010, 01:39:17 AM Quote from: BogusSVO;318047what is the installed height of the springs? was it checked?i can assure you this guy didnt leave no stone unturned,, all the basics and advanced observations/tasks were met. Ill bet money its just what was explained previously by way of the transition to roller cams and the lack of oil ingredients making a flat tappet less applicable now a days. Quote Selected