Whats going on.

I have a brand new 383 stroker that i am breaking in. It has a lound chatter sound to it and now after about 100 or so miles on the motor there is oil leaking and splattering on the hood, fron suspension and tie rods. Im not sure where it is coming from.

Something is spinning it to spatter all over, it runs well and the oil pressure is good.

Please let me know, im also going to call the builder. But EveryONE here seems to know what they are doing.

Thanks for your time, Paul

On this block the 2 holes on the left in front of the fuel pump the top hole should be plugged with a short 3/8 bolt with sealer as we have seen this many times.
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y276/CNCBLOCKS/LITTLE-MBLOCKANDLIFTERBOREFIXTURE021.jpg

Yep, that's the usual culprit. And it won't leak when you're just idling or with the engine off- crankcase pressure pushes it out, usually only at/neat WOT. It's a hair-puller, for sure.

Also, make sure your front main seal isn't leaking (from behind the balancer). If it's leaking the balancer will whip oil around as the engine spins and make a mess of the underside of the hood. Usually it'll drip at idle, however, and leave a little puddle.

It's time to get under the car with a flashlight and see what's going on.

Now what's this about a chattering sound? Rocker arms loosening up (valve tapping noise- very common for them to loosen up after a few miles if they weren't properly tightened down)? Timing chain issue (swirling metal sound usually)? Exhaust/header leak (sounds like a valve tap but gets lounder the more load the engine is under)? Can you tell where it's coming from?


[This message has been edited by Damon (edited July 18, 2005).]

Yeah you guys were right about the plug on the front of the motor, i never knew it exhisted. Thanks!!!

Well this chattering sound is pretty strong, if you tap your teeth together as fast as you can thats what it sounds like. I opted for the roller rockers...


My cam specs are 275I/277E duration .462I/.482E Lift

What do you think?

I'd have to go with loose rockers on the chattering.

Yeah, that would be my first guess without actually hearing it for myself. I'd bet the poly-locks that hold the roller rocker's adjustement have come loose and backed off.

If that's the case you NEED to fix it ASAP. They will back all the way off once loose and eventually you'll have a rocker come off completely. Chances are one of the lifters will also pop out of it's bore and the pushrod will fall down into the lifter valley. Then you have to yank the whole intake off to put it back together. Not fun.

Definitely rocker adjustment, IMO. That sure sounds like a Comp Pure Energy cam? They aren't radical like the XE series, which is good these days. There have been a lot of XE cams going bad.

Detonation maybe?

ok, im going to take off the valve covers, but how tight do i go, it there a tq rating? Or just "tight"?

No no no no, if your not familiar with adjusting the preload on hydraulic lifters, get some help. This is not the time to be experimenting and learning. It's really not that hard and I'm sure you can handle it, but during this critical breakin time is not the time to be screwing around. Have someone set the valve train once, right and you will probably never have to learn how.

well i called the builder and he explained to me what to do. He said that i need to loosen up the center hex bolt and then tighten the main "nut" if you will until you can just spin the lifter. He said to then find top dead center and tighten it 3/4 of a turn. thats it according to him, sound right?