It's going to take a bunch of time indeed! Needless to say I missed my goal of having the one side done before heading out of town today. Scary to think it's possible, but I'm assuming the Camaro is out of gas since it wouldn't start and the fp gauge is reading a big fat zero. Scary because I put 5 gallons in it and collectively the engine has ran for about 30-40 minutes! Then again, the way it has ran, I suppose that's logical. Man, the inopportune timing is about the only thing that always works perfectly. When I get back home I'm ordering the other set of wheel dollies for the front tires. Usually takes a week to get things from HF. I'm going to work on getting the rockers set and hopefully, the engine running the way it's supposed to during that time. When the dollies get here, running good or not, the Camaro is getting pushed sideways for a few months. Shouldn't take a week to set the rockers, here's hoping!

 

Yeah, it could easily be out of gas, but not have used the 5 gallons. If the tank was dry, there may be 2-3 gallons that wont ever come out via the fuel pickup. Depends on how low the pickup draws gas. And the raw gas smell you had tells me it was running pretty rich when it did run.

 

Vall, I was just curious what you meant when you said that the lifters may be the issue. There isn't a doubt in my mind that I set the lash properly on these rockers (both times) and I was wondering what you meant by that statement. I was talking to a guy downstate that is a career GM engineer. He's helped develop many of the engines that Chevy uses in their vehicles and he couldn't understand why my engine is doing what it's doing. Made me wish I had the Camaro down there for him to look at and help with. Anyway, I'm home now, got some more gas this evening but it was late when I got home so I didn't mess with anything tonight. On my drive home I got to thinking about possibly just setting to zero lash and tightening the poly locks instead of adding the extra half turn like I'd do normally? I'd think that would still be enough to keep them from chattering and possibly keep them from being that little bit too tight? Grasping at straws of course, got the wheel dollies ordered tonight also so the days are extremely numbered. The Camaro's getting put away real soon, sure would love to have it running properly before then.

 

What I was referring to was that not all flat tappet lifters are the same. Some are "anti pump up" and some not. Some can be set at zero lash with the engine off, and because they may not pump up the same as others, they will vary in the lash setting while running.
As with the lifters in my Austin I previously described. Those (for some reason) pumped up and closed the gap I set with the engine off, which caused my valves to not fully close. Only way I could set them at zero lash was running. And after shutting the engine off, I noticed the rockers feel sloppy loose, but if I check them immediately at shut off they feel tight enough. They drain down quickly, so setting them with the engine off makes them too tight when running.

 

I'm going to assume that your statement about some lifters not pumping up the same as others holds true in my situation. I'm going to go a step further and say some of my actual lifters are not the same as the others. I went out today, pulled both valve covers, removed the rockers and started over on the valve lash. Side note - engine was MUCH easier to turn over by hand this time than the last time I set the lash. I just barely got to zero lash and set the poly locks, didn't go the extra half turn. Put some gas in the tank, gave one shot of ether and it fired right up. Stayed running on it's own, first time, cold (mid forties) and ran for about 4-5 minutes, then stalled. Started it back up and again it stayed running for a couple minutes, staying right around 1500 rpm before it stalled again. I looked at the headers and #3 and #7 were still starting to glow. Didn't bother running the engine more after I saw the glowing but I'm thinking the other tubes would've started to glow if it had ran a bit longer. Couple things observed when I set the lash this time - 1. after I got a couple cylinders in to the procedure I noticed that almost all the rockers were level with each other aside from the couple that were in the open position. Much like you were experiencing with the Austin, they were tight and open/close the valve when I turn the engine over but drain down quickly. 2. Absolutely no chattering noise on any rocker setting the way I did, without going the extra half turn to set the pre-load. Ran out of time today to pull the covers again to adjust more. Tomorrow I think I'm going to loosen each one a bit more and see if that takes care of the glowing tubes. Having such a tough time trying to set them with the engine running but at least I'm back to having them all set and locked so I can go from there if it'll stay running long enough. Engine is most definitely running better but it appears they are still a bit too tight.

 

Within a brand, I'd expect all the lifters to be equal, so my statement about not all lifters being equal was referring to brands, not individual lifters within a brand.
Those poly locks are nice to keep the adjustment good, and roller rockers are neat too. But I personally don't feel a full roller rocker makes enough difference to use them for most street engines. I doubt anyone could see a measureable difference on a dyno, and they're pretty spendy for the pain they give me during adjustments.
I use stamped steel roller tip rockers, and self locking nuts. They make my life simpler, and are much less expensive. Or I use stock rockers, which seem to be a proven item after millions of Chevy engines, and millions of miles.

 

I understood what you mean about equality between lifters within the same set/brand. I was more or less being sarcastic about mine. I'm sure it's more of an adjustment issue but still a bit odd that a select few are causing more issues than the other ones. It's always on the driver side rockers, haven't seen a glowing tube yet on the passenger side. I'll be loosening them up a bit more today to see if I can finally get this engine running well.


I paid $50 for the Comp rockers that I'm using, they're a $300+ set and it was too good of a deal to pass up. I probably still would've went with some type of roller rocker but not the same ones I've got. It would've never crossed my mind when purchasing a set of rockers that I'd encounter the type of issues that I am as it is. It's not the poly locks that are causing the problems here, can't blame them. I personally like them better than the stock lock nuts because I can adjust mine with my fingers and then set the poly lock. I just made a mistake when I loosened the poly locks the other week when trying to set them running. Other than that it hasn't been an issue for me to set them, but rather hearing them!

 

The problem with the poly locks is trying to set the rocker lash running, and keeping the setting while you try to get an allen to stay in place and not dislodge during the adjustment. Just easier for me to use the nut without a setscrew. And I like being able to use stock height valve covers too. Personal preference.

 

Oh man am I close! I went through the firing order again today and loosened all the rocker nuts another quarter turn. Just one issue remains. Cylinder #7 exhaust tube still wants to glow. From a cold start (40 degrees in garage also) I just barely hit the throttle one time, tap the key and the engine fires right up. Stays running too! Got the "idle" down to 1200 rpm this evening. Timing's gotta be extremely close to good where it's at. I didn't get as much time as hoped to work on it this afternoon but got everything readjusted/loosened and put back together before having to pick up kids from school and do the extracurricular activities until late in the evening. Only had a few minutes this evening to try starting the engine to see how it would run. Probably, hopefully could've had the glowing tube issue resolved and the engine purring today if I had a little more time. TOMORROW. I turned 41 today and all I kept saying to the kids is "wouldn't that be the best Birthday present I could ask for, to have that engine running right today?!" They agreed, just ran out of time. It was so nice to stand outside the car, reach in, hit the key and fire up the engine. Again, it's the little things! This whole lifter/rocker deal will forever be a mystery to me (even with the logical explanation) as to why they need to be so loose with the engine off. I need to get a couple pictures showing almost all the rockers at the same level with the engine off, it looks so strange. It's going to be a sunny day tomorrow, cold, but sunny. The new goal is to shift this sucker into gear and drive it out of the garage. Last thing I want to do is sound pessimistic or negative at such an exciting time but I still don't even know if my trans rebuild is going to pay any dividends. The fluid should be circulating throughout at this point after having the engine running so many times right? I've got the back end up on stands right now, once I get the idle down to where it should be set I plan on going through the gears a few times before trying to move the car. Don't want to get too far ahead of myself but that's the next step provided the engine woes are soon over with. I really hope to post video tomorrow of this Camaro seeing sunlight again after a few years!

 

Sounds great! With just the #7 needing a bit more adjustment it should be good to go!