Rocker arm/valve tip wear

[greenmachinedriver]

Looking for some opinions on what may have caused this issue. Its a cam motion llsr cam 234/244, stock rockers shimmed to 0 lash. Frankenstein stage 1 ported heads with stock valves and btr .660 springs. Revs to 7100 rpm. About 2500 street miles on it. Oil pressure was always good, no abnormal noises from engine. I only found it because i was checking lash and pulled the rockers off. Thease pics are the worst ones and about half look perfect. I am going to have the valve tips ground and have the guides checked. I am also going to switch to a roller tip rocker.

[Bo White]

0 lash on a solid roller?

[zz430camaro]

Possibly the push rod lenth and shimming of the rockers. Watch this and check to see if your rocker is 90 degrees to the valve at half lift.

Looks like the rocker is not positioned correctly and pushing on the edge if the valve stem. When you start shimming LS rockers you mess with the set geometry and must ensure it is right when you are done.

[christianchevell]

Solids are notorious for being harder on the upper valve train and have to be set up perfectly, and relashed over time , your obviously hammering the rockers some, so instead of a nice swipe pattern your..hammering more.

Sure roller tips may help but you need to make sure your choice of solid for the gain over hydraulic is set up right or..... you get what you have, and of course relash over time for maint......and replace worn parts. Your hammer pattern to me a old hot rodder means the geometry is off...…..

[lazerlemonta]

Lash caps. Look into them

[greenmachinedriver]

I am going to order some ls7 lash caps and see if those will work. I dont think i have enough valve stem above the locks to use them. The video on adjustment of the rocker arm geometry is very informative. It does not directly apply to ls style rockers but i see how it could be adapted especially with the use of roller tip rockers. I do have shims under the rockers to adjust lash but i think .020 is about the most i used. I guess that was enough to throw off the rocker geometry.
0 lash is what was specified on my cam card so thats what i set it at. If anyone has another idea i am very open to sugestions at this point.
The reason i went with the low lash solid was i was under the impression it was significantly less maintenance than a non low lash roller. I have heard of guys going over 10k miles between lash adjustments. I know it is still harder on the valve train a hydraulic but i am disappointed that i have run into these problems so soon. Live and learn i guess.

[zz430camaro]

Originally Posted by greenmachinedriver

I am going to order some ls7 lash caps and see if those will work. I dont think i have enough valve stem above the locks to use them. The video on adjustment of the rocker arm geometry is very informative. It does not directly apply to ls style rockers but i see how it could be adapted especially with the use of roller tip rockers. I do have shims under the rockers to adjust lash but i think .020 is about the most i used. I guess that was enough to throw off the rocker geometry.
0 lash is what was specified on my cam card so thats what i set it at. If anyone has another idea i am very open to sugestions at this point.
The reason i went with the low lash solid was i was under the impression it was significantly less maintenance than a non low lash roller. I have heard of guys going over 10k miles between lash adjustments. I know it is still harder on the valve train a hydraulic but i am disappointed that i have run into these problems so soon. Live and learn i guess.

This video shows the basic theory. If you did not alter your valve height much you should be able to put the rockers on with no shims and use an adjustable pushrod to measure what length you will need to get the correct length and not use shims. Of course you could use extremely thin ones to fine tune it.

Using you current hardware you do a quick check to see if the rocker is in the correct orientation at half valve lift so you know if something is off.

Plus you can do an swipe pattern too.