Lets Discuss Collapsed Lifters, And A Fix

[fastthings]

Well, my LS2 that has 200 miles on it, and has sat for 5 years or so developed, a knock. It comes on when the motor warms up, and is very defenite location. I took off the valve cover and I am able to push on the rockers. All move the slightest amount exect one. It pushes in quite a bit, and come back up.

Looks like the head has to come off to get to the lifters.

Should I,

1. Get some gaskets and a lifter and just replace the bad one and move on, few hundred dollars,

2. Get a cam kit with all new lifters, just over a thousand,

3. Go all the way and get something like the Trick Flow set up with the new heads, cam, lifters, Just over three grand.

I'm haveing a hard time deciding what to do. If it was free it would be a no brainer. Is the gain to good to resist, while the car is already torn apart.

What do you guys think??

[fastthings]

Or should I throw some Rislone in it and see what it does??

[The Stig]

If you decide to go with the new trick flow heads, you might as well go ahead and swap the cam. You'll kick yourself if you don"t...

Good luck with the decision.

Mike

[mmaragos]

Option #3. Just do it. You know you want to. LOL

That is a tough one. I would do either #1 or #3. You will have excellent power to weight regardless. If it were me, I would probably do the least expensive option - drive it with that power level for a season and see if you even want more power (I know, I sound like a wuss). Maybe you'll want a power adder instead of heads and a cam or maybe you'll want to leave it be.

[kabacj]

If you plan to use the car on the street only it's going to be hard to use the extra power. On the track you can use as much normally aspirated power as you can make. If you ever plan on upgrading the motor now is the time in my opinion.

The more finished the car gets the longer it takes to get things back apart. You also need to be more careful as there is a ton of shiny stuff in harms way.

I would first make sure it's a real problem. Maybe pull the motor apart first. Then I would go with number 2 or 3. Remember to add the cost of tuning too.

Assuming your up for the install and tuning, you will never say. Boy I wish I had less power. I wish I had 100hp more.

John

[fastthings]

I will probably find the money and go for the gold. I don't mind haveing more power than I can use, and it will be on a track( I live only 10 minutes from a 2.5 mile road corse).

How would I tell I have a bad lifter, besides the knock, and the extra movement of the rocker.

Would you guys have a suggestion of what cam/head pakage to use. There is so many choices of cams, and I have no clue. Also keep in mind I'm kinda maried to the intake I have, givin the way I set up the intake tube. In other words I think the Fast intake is too tall for what I have. Would it be dumb to upgrade heads and cam, then keep the stock LS2 intake manifold? I could change the tube, just more money.

[crash]

The stock stuff is fine. I built almost 600 HP with stock intake/heads/exhaust manifolds on an LS3. I felt it was actually TOO MUCH power and went back down to an LS2 block with LS3 top end. Still built almost 500 HP but with quite a bit better mileage. The cam is the key. I used stock lifters but changed the cam and valve springs. I would say that you should be able to save your $$ on heads and just do the cam and lifters and get good results. I used a custom grind but the Lunati and Pro Comp cams get good reviews. Try doing an internet search for LS3 cams and you should find a couple magazine comparison articles that will give you some good, specific suggestions on cams.

[fastthings]

See what I'm saying, tough desicion.

I'm still in research mode.

[mmaragos]

ls1tech.com has a ton of dyno graphs of various cams and other set ups. Great resource for everything LS based.

[fastthings]

I think I'm leaning twards #2. I could do the heads at a later date without too much teardown.

[kabacj]

I think I'm leaning twards #2. I could do the heads at a later date without too much teardown.

That makes sense. The solution you want is the one that gives you a car that behaves well. Once you start messing with things, you can add more issues to the normal bug list that you need to sort out. Even though you are building your car very well, there are just things that go wrong.

People mis wire things when they are helping you. Aftermarket solenoids blow out. You forget to tighten minor things.

You are not building a by the book car so you will have things to sort anyway. Limiting the changes but addressing your knock sounds like a good approach.

John

[Kempo]

Gene,

If your problem is a lifter you will need to remove your heads to replace it. Instead of getting new heads you can have yours ported. Call Martin Smallwood at Tick Performance. He can point you in the right direction depending your HP goals. They use a company called Advanced Induction for their head work and Martin can spec a custom cam for you. I had a good experience using both of them.

H

[fastthings]

Gene,

If your problem is a lifter you will need to remove your heads to replace it. Instead of getting new heads you can have yours ported. Call Martin Smallwood at Tick Performance. He can point you in the right direction depending your HP goals. They use a company called Advanced Induction for their head work and Martin can spec a custom cam for you. I had a good experience using both of them.

H

Good option, I'll check it out. How did you find Tick Perf, and could you give me a guess at how much taller your Fast intake is.

[Kempo]

I found Tick at the ls1tech.com forum. The fast intake its about 1/2-3/4 inch higher than the stock LS3 intake. PM sent with contact info.