Whats This Sound!? (First Starts After Heads/Cam Install

[booneSS13]

Fired up it up for the first few times after heads/cam install and this what i got! Idles smoothly and there's no tune on the car yet. Its an M6 LS3. Any Ideas??

[Bodywerks]

Did you do a swipe check on your rockers? Timing check of your cam? Sure you have proper length pushrods?
Could be a something serious like ptv slap (would have to be a seriously aggressive or out of time cam), or a stuck/collapsed lifter, or something as simple as a rocket with a bad bearing or a rocker hitting the valve cover or baffle.

[booneSS13]

That's the next thing I need to do is pull the valve covers off and let it run like that and see if the noise goes away. I'm thinking it's something with the top end I could be wrong though. I used all 7.425" pushrods and all lifters are brand new too. I'm also using a cam that's in the low 6xx's lift range too

[Bodywerks]

Any lift over .6xx is considered mildly aggressive. Is it a custom cam, or another cam that has been run in combination with your heads before without issue?
Even a properly ordered custom cam should have had enough info provided to them to ensure no fly-cutting of the pistons will be needed.
Without knowing what heads and cam, it's hard to speculate. Being only 7.425 poshrods, I'd venture to say these are not aftermarket castings, just ported OEM?
I just ordered aftermarket castings and a custom cam. the heads typically require 7.500 to 7.550 pushrods with most setups.
How did you check your pushrod length needed? Did you account for preload of the lifters? That's usually around .030 extra pushrod length for aluminum block engines. If you didn't account for that that could very well be your problem. In this case, however, the sound would get more intense as the engine heated up.

[booneSS13]

It's a setup from livernois motorsports. A livernois 2r max camshaft and their stage 3 cylinder heads which are ported factory heads with dual Springs. 7.425" was the length that they told me to go with actually the whole setup was okay'ed by them so I'm assuming everything should be the right spec. It's actually a tuner in Illinois that put the engine together due to me being out of state. It's a 60x 61x lift cam also. I was told by them that it doesn't need fly cutting and I the setup as been done before apparently.

[Bodywerks]

Well, if the tuner did the work then you have somebody to take it back to! That valvetrain noise ain't right, that's for sure, and if whoever did the work tells you otherwise, then I'd hate to say it but you're probably better off not letting them touch it again, and take it somewhere else.
Livernoise is a reputable tuner, let them figure it out.

[Livernois Motorsports]

Originally Posted by booneSS13

It's a setup from livernois motorsports. A livernois 2r max camshaft and their stage 3 cylinder heads which are ported factory heads with dual Springs. 7.425" was the length that they told me to go with actually the whole setup was okay'ed by them so I'm assuming everything should be the right spec. It's actually a tuner in Illinois that put the engine together due to me being out of state. It's a 60x 61x lift cam also. I was told by them that it doesn't need fly cutting and I the setup as been done before apparently.

What did final PTV end up being? As with any build, checking PTV is a must, even when dealing with a known combo. This will catch if there is an install error every time.

[booneSS13]

Originally Posted by Livernois Motorsports

What did final PTV end up being? As with any build, checking PTV is a must, even when dealing with a known combo. This will catch if there is an install error every time.

To be honest I'm not sure about my PTV I need to check with my installer. We did find out that there is no oil coming through the pushrods at all. I will post a video with the valve covers off.

[booneSS13]

No oil through the pushrods. Not sure why this is

[Bodywerks]

That's not normal.
What oil are you running? Too thick an oil can starve the lifters.
Only thing I can think of is air in the oil from a bad o ring on your pickup tube, or your installer forgot to reinstall the PITA oil pickup tube flange bolt.
Or issues with pushrod length, not preloading the lifter enough.

[Bodywerks]

Did you disappear?? Keep us updated. We want to know what the findings are.

[booneSS13]

Just got in from a long day! so I ended up letting it run for a good 6-7 minutes and oil started working it's way up through the pushrods. We put the stock size 7.400" pushrods on one side and left the 7.425" on the other head just for troubleshooting purposes. Both sides seemed to be getting oil after we let it idle for more time. The knocking sound hasn't went away though, but I thought to look under the car and it sounds like it is actually coming from where the header connects to the HF cats. I do know the installer attempted to remove them and swap them out for a cat delete pipes per my request, but claims after trying and also using a torch he still could not remove them so he left the cats on. I'm thinking it may be the cats making the noise. Maybe they got tweaked out of place or damaged in the process? We're going to further investigate tomorrow

[booneSS13]

Originally Posted by Bodywerks

That's not normal.
What oil are you running? Too thick an oil can starve the lifters.
Only thing I can think of is air in the oil from a bad o ring on your pickup tube, or your installer forgot to reinstall the PITA oil pickup tube flange bolt.
Or issues with pushrod length, not preloading the lifter enough.

That's a good question I I should ask what oil is being run? Wouldn't the factory spec weight be best?

[booneSS13]

Found this video this is what I'm thinking could be wrong