ok hi i am new here and need some help,
me and a friend of mine are working on his 1984 camaro z-28
it i think is kinda rare with the posi-rear and 4 wheel disc brakes
anyhow it has had a 350 crate swap with a mild stage 2 cam in it with a holley 650 double pump carb
it has a 5 speed stick that was stock to the car with titanium gears inside right now he has 3.73 gear in the rear with the intention of switching to 4.11s soon the car has a full accel ignition set ( including the hei distributor) supposedly makes about 310-315 at the rear wheels with champion copper plugs in it.

ok my problems that i need help with are these
it has a very lite piston slap in the engine, any easy way too fix this ?
also would putting platinum plugs in it give it any more power or would i just be wasting my money ? ( the accel kit suggests them ? )

i would appreciate any help on either topic i am getting the car back from the paintshop in 2 weeks and would like to be able to run it after another 2 weeks after that ? so any help please im in college and have tons of free time

viper

 

I like to go with what the mafunafturer suggests. I dont think they randomly pick a product for use. If they want the platimum there is a reason. of course they might have a deal with platimum for them to say that... you never know. It always a good idea to go with the suggestions though.

Piston slap... Back in the day you could bring your car in and they would fix it.. would should could eeehhh, I dont think it ever really happened. If its true piston slap you could always get new pistons - sounds like the engine is out of the car so a swap would be fairly easy to do now instead of when the engine fails.

 

First off there is nothing rare about a Z28 having a posi & 4 wheel discs unless it's a 1st gen car.

Now then what makes you think there is piston slap?
Was the crate engine new or a rebuild? either way it should have some kind of warranty.
If it is indeed piston slap,there is a likely a bore fitment issue and it will need to be disassembled,possibly bored again with pistons and rings fitted properly I would guess,not a pretty sight.[:@]
Sparkplugs? well there isn't likely to be much difference in a mild motor,I would just run ACs

 

Good point Y2kglide. I didnt even realise he said it was a crate, there shouldnt be any slap in a new mill.

 

isnt piston slap for worn rings or they werent filed down to the right size? mabe just bore it out and put new rings on it the right way. if its not to etched up on the cylinder wall you might be able to get away with just honing the cylinders.

 

ok the engine was put in over 5 years ago and it was built by his brother who does build engines alot and it started off with out any "supposed piston slap". another guy that as driven it said that the engine "knocked" any ideas

 

oh and is there any horse power differences between regualar platinums and double or triple platinums ?

 

No. You wont see any power increase between any plugs, unless the current plugs are fouled. The only reason accel recommends platinum plugs is because the higher voltage can supposedly foul copper plugs.

Double and Triple tip plugs are a joke. The current will take the path of least resistance to ground. One of those tips are gonna be easier to travel to than the others, meaning if you were to watch one of those plugs under operation, it would be no different than a regular, 1 tip plug.

 

Hell that could mean a lot of things,5 years and how many miles?
If this car was hot rodded 5 years is pretty good for engine life.
I'd start by pulling the valve covers and doing a visual inspection to look for any broken or bent valve train parts on the heads.
Then I would start the motor with the covers off (a set of oil deflector clips are handy about now) and look to see that all the valves are moving as they should be and listen for any unusual noises,if something is ticking,knocking or clattering you can most often find the offender by pushing with a stick on each rocker on top of the pushrod,when you find the noisy one you will know because the sound will change or go away.
That might tell you if you need to look closer at the springs,rocker and pivot ball on that particular valve.
It could be a weak lifter in which case you would have to pull the intake to get at it.
If the noise sounds more like it's coming from the middle of the engine none of this will help,you'll be pulling it out and taking it down.
Could be piston slap from a worn out bore buy more likely a rod or main bearing.
If it gets markedly louder when you rev up the engine it's probably a rod going out.
There are other possibilities,a bad wrist pin,cracked piston,even a flywheel issue,who knows.
Bottom line is if you don't find something in the valve train causing your noise the motor is coming out and apart for a rebuild.

 

When do you usually hear the slap? is it when the car is at idle or only under load? I used to have a tapping sound when my car was under load and thought I had a rod knocking. Turned out that it was just a bad exhaust manifold gasket. I hope it is something as simple for you.