I'm really hoping that I can get the rockers adjusted tomorrow. I'm out of time, for real, for many different reasons. I've got some serious repairs to do on my truck and a Grand Prix to get them ready to drive this winter. Remember a while back when I mentioned taking the truck into town and having a problem with the brakes? Well, I finally took a look at it today, it's not one of the little hydraulic hoses, it's the steel (well, rust) lines in the back that connect to the hydraulic line. You know, the one that comes from the MC to the rear, tucked into the frame and runs along the front of the gas tank? I actually have to drop the tank to get to this sucker! Not looking forward to that job, since they basically ALL need to be replaced as they all look the same, rust. Then, I got a new solenoid kit for the Grand Prix trans (4L65E) that I need to get installed, that requires dropping the whole cradle down to get to the side cover, that'll be fun! Have a new power steering pump that needs to get installed while it's apart also. That's just a couple reasons. So, like I said, I'm out of time on the Camaro, it's gotta get cleaned up, covered up and slid over in the garage for a short 6 months or so. Sure would be nice to put the Camaro away knowing I won't have to start the spring troubleshooting. Wishful thinking at it's finest right there. I wonder if the local mental institution has Internet access?

 

I sure am thankful Oregon doesn't salt their roads! Every time I hear these horror stories of vehicles rusting parts away, and they're fairly new, I realize how I take for granted that things like brake lines last longer than most car owners lives out here.
When I built my '63 Falcon I was going to replace all the brake lines, since I swapped to a dual reservoir master, and needed to bend up new front lines. But the single line to the rear looked so nice I just left it, and modified it to fit the new brake system on both ends.

 

It was a horrible discovery for sure looking underneath that truck yesterday. I pretty much knew what I was going to see, but didn't expect the level of carnage that I witnessed. I'll for sure post a couple pics of the underside of this truck Vall, you won't believe your eyes! It's definitely not a "newer" truck, it's a '97 and 17 years is a pretty long time to survive in Michigan winters. Looking at the outside of this thing, you' never now what lurked beneath, I had every intention of keeping this thing and using it for winters for a long time. Now I'm seriously considering a sale and replacement 4wd truck. I'd literally have to do the same stuff to the truck that I'm doing to the Camaro, replacing EVERYTHING to make it nice again. Problem is, knowing it's a winter driver, it'd only be a matter of time before all those new parts were destroyed again. I don't think there's a body panel left, including what I saw on the bottom of the bed and cab yesterday that doesn't need replacing. Already knew it needs a new/rebuild engine, trans and transfer case but it still runs good. For what it would cost me to make this truck nice again, I could buy 4 winter trucks and drive them the same amount of time it would take me to finish this one. And, by the time that happened, I'd be starting over again replacing rusted out parts from the beginning! I'll post pics. This bums me out, I know they're going to rot but I'm not rolling around in a rust-mobile!


Still hoping to get the Camaro running today and check those rockers!!

 

Considering how cheap a 90's 4x4 is out here, you could fly out and buy one, then drive it back, and have a solid older truck. Could even get a similar truck to what you have, and remove anything that hadn't rusted apart from your truck and swap to a solid truck. I see pretty nice ones go for under $2k often, and sometimes as low as $1k.

 

I've thought about that seriously over the last 24 hours. You can find them down south from me also relatively cheap. Problem there is I'd have to sell mine to have funds to buy a new one and there's too many things installed on my truck now that I'd want to remove before selling! Wouldn't be much to sell by the time I got done lol! I still might end up doing something like that though, can't believe I'm saying this but I'd actually like to find another truck exactly like the one I have, even though it's a Ford. I just like the body style of the one I have, minus the drivetrain. I'll probably start looking around a little and see what I can find. That's dangerous though, LAST thing I need is a 5th vehicle in the driveway. I'm sure the 2wd trucks are that cheap around, the 4wd trucks that are in good shape go for at least double that. 2wd won't do me much good, as much as I'd like to have an older swb Chevy to build they don't work real well in 2+ feet of snow.

 

LOL My SWB 4x4 was on another level of rusted. The front clip was replace when it got painted so it "looked" solid. Underneath was bad. Tim I know you see them all the time. My cab mounts were gone tilting the cab to DS front. Bed mounts were gone tilting it to the PS rear. Frame looked bent! I blew a brake line last month at the same time the idle went high like I had a vacuum leak. Backing out of a down hill parking spot it popped and I almost backed into M-46. I got it home and left it. I got rid of it the next day.

Tim you wanna head out to get us some trucks! I got an Army buddy up by Seattle that will put us up I bet. Funny how Michigan kills cars? I used to frequent a forum way back when they were chat rooms that had a guy who bought a '88 (which ever year) Turbo Trans Am from Detroit for 30K. Now these cars have the same 3.8L turbo that the GN got in '87 and this car was under 10,000 miles. Never seen one on the street in my life. He showed me pics of the under side and it was covered in rust. No holes or anything but it was all surface rusted and really not pretty.

 

I've got to get a plan in place with my truck before I can pursue a different one. I doubt I'll be able to get a new one before winter sets in this year. I do believe that will be what I end up doing though, selling this one for as much as possible and then finding a different one. I'm thinking down south though Damon, no reason to go extra miles for something without rust. When we drove out to Wyoming last year, round trip was over $800 in fuel so I imagine it would be more than that to go further west for a truck. Don't want to spend half of what I pay for a truck in fuel to bring it home. I just picked a county in Georgia the other night on CL and looked for SWB Chevy's and saw all kinds of them so I do believe it won't be too hard to find something decent when the time comes. I have to focus on getting my truck back on the road before I could do anything as it is. I'm pretty confident that the bed mounting bolts are like rust sticks, but I'm gonna pull the bed off to do the brakes since I'll be replacing the fuel tank/pump at the same time. I know it needs a new tank so I might as well do it all at the same time. Having the bed off it would make life a TON easier to work on it, plus I could get another quart of POR and hit the frame and such while it's all exposed. First things first though, the Grand Prix is getting operated on before the truck, I have the week after next carved out for the PS pump and dropping the trans down to do the solenoid kit. Think I'll try and sell both my truck and GP next year and combine the funds. Then I'll find a new truck! I've got friends in GA, TX, LA and FL that I can utilize to find something.


So, rocker arms on the Camaro, I am having a hell of a time trying to hear when the "ticking" starts and stops in the garage! I do believe loosening them up is helping though! I can start the engine and it'll stay running but I keep turning it back off after trying to adjust each cylinder because of all the oil spraying everywhere. It's making a gigantic mess! I have the cut-top valve cover on there, even took a big piece of cardboard to wedge behind the folded up top to stop the oil from going everywhere, but it still is. I'm trying to just suck it up and get 'em done but I literally cannot tell if I got the ticking to stop because it's too loud in the garage with the engine running. I don't want to loosen them too far, just until I hear the ticking right? The rockers are definitely oiling well Vall, it's flipping it over the top of the valve cover (which is folded straight up) plus the cardboard that I wedged in there, which raises the top up another 5-6".


Look what I found on the inside of the valve cover when I removed it. There's no other water in the oil, I believe it's from the grommet where the PCV valve plugs into it. I'm thinking it's from all the mornings where the condensation is so bad everything on the engine has water on it. The grommet is new, but doesn't seal real well, I've already seen oil dripping out of it. There's no white oil anywhere else but on the inside top of the cover. Still thought it was strange though.

 

The condensation makes sense to me, even if the engine was well sealed. Considering the amount of heating up and cooling down you're doing with all the starts and stops. I wouldn't be concerned about it myself.
I assume your exhaust is pretty loud if you can't hear the clicking. I did mine in my garage, and had no problem hearing that clack when a rocker got loose enough. I'd also guess you've got a high pressure or high volume oil pump if you're getting that much oil going over your barrier. I don't use high volume oil pumps myself, as stock deliver enough pressure, and too much volume or pressure can wash out bearings.
Not sure what to tell you on the rocker adjustment, except to try to keep working on one at a time backing it off until you're sure it's making noise, then turn it down until it goes away.

 

Good to know about the white sludge in the top of the valve cover, I wasn't really concerned about it since it was only on the inside top of it but thanks for the confirmation.


I don't really think the oil pump is a high volume/pressure one Vall, it looks like a stock one to me. I didn't build the bottom end of this engine however, so I'm not exactly sure either way. It's working good though, guess that's all that really matters. The exhaust is loud, not deafening but it's making it incredibly difficult to hear the noise I'm listening for. I messed up though, I shouldn't have loosened the poly locks on these rockers. I was hoping to make the process quicker by loosening the locks on all 8 so as to streamline the loosening and retightening of the nuts while the engine was running. Thought I had snugged them all just enough to hold but I was wrong. The nuts are extremely easy to loosen/tighten without the poly locks tightened on these and what ended up happening is a couple of the nuts worked themselves loose while I was trying to set #1 and #3. I looked over and saw the rocker for #7 intake laying in front of the valve spring but the engine was still running great. So now I've got a mess of rockers that are too loose, but not necessarily clacking. It just made a job that I was struggling at that much more difficult. I'm thinking that I might as well just start at TDC #1 and go back though the valve lash setting procedure that I did originally. Even though I'll never understand how the lash could've been set too tight on these things, I honestly am beginning to think that loosening them up a bit is going to solve the issues I'm having. After I started loosening the first couple, the engine began to run on it's own without even having to warm it up. It's still running at 1500 rpm and I actually turned the idle screw out A LOT today and it only lowered the idle down to 1300, but it was still running. That's when I noticed #7 intake rocker just laying there though so I shut it off. Not sure why this happened but after I put the rocker back on I tried to restart the engine and the battery was almost dead. It's always something to hinder progress I tell ya! I'm going to reset the lash on all rockers tomorrow and start over. The mess continues to grow with the oil going everywhere and I still can't tell if the 2 cylinders I've tried to adjust are done right. Heading down to Detroit tomorrow afternoon but want to at least have the driver side done and cleaned up before I leave.

 

Pretty much impossible to look at a oil pump and see if it's a high volume pump. They look identical to a stock pump. The difference is what the pressure gauge reads at idle, or when revving the engine. The stock pump is pretty consistent in pressure, so the high and low readings aren't much different between idle and cruise speed.
I don't think you originally did anything wrong when setting the valves. I just think the lifters may be the issue, and only way to fix them is setting them while running. The poly locks and nuts are really going to be a PITA while adjusting. It's always tough to try and set them, and keep it set while trying to tighten the setscrew, and not lose the setting. It might take a bunch of time starting and stopping to get it done, but it will idle better once you've got them all set.