Lifters, piston slap, or normal?

[Geotrash]

Ok so I ordered my parts.

-Morel 7717 dropin lifters. Had the 6504 in the 5.3, but these are apparently just new revision.
-New true GM trays.
-Arp head bolts
-Mr Gasket .040 gaskets
-Brand new STOCK vvt camshaft

I will reuse the PAC springs, nothing wrong with those and that has nothing to do with noise.

My thought process on going with stock camshaft.
1) The ones in stock at BTR are too rowdy, I really like a lot of negative overlap in a daily truck. Don't want any lope. Only thing that would give me no lope is the stage 1 truck cam, which is too small for a 6.2 and pushes the powerband down too low.

2) This will rule out any doubts. If it still makes noise with brand new lifters and brand new stock cam, then I know I've got a problem with the bottom end and I don't really wanna invest anymore into it anyway. I inspected my used stock cam and didn't like the marks on it.

3) I could have ordered another cam motion VVT cam, but they're over a month out. I don't want to risk this noise shedding metal into my bearings, so I wanna get it done before it gets super hot out.

I am treating it like $100 diagnostic essentially.

I will report back once I am done. If all the noise is gone, I will send back my existing cam to cam motion and have it re polished and probably just throw it back in.

If noise is still there, then I will just drive it until the engine goes.

Sounds like a solid plan. Ten bucks says when you get that cam out, you'll be glad you did. Prolly some marks starting to show up on at least one lobe. And I would raise you a nice bottle of whisky that your bottom end is fine and that the noise is entirely related to one bad lifter.

 

[ls1frc]

Sounds like a solid plan. Ten bucks says when you get that cam out, you'll be glad you did. Prolly some marks starting to show up on at least one lobe. And I would raise you a nice bottle of whisky that your bottom end is fine and that the noise is entirely related to one bad lifter.

I hope so! Would also explain why the -10 overlap cam has a bit of a miss at idle. -10 overlap in a 6.2 should be dead smooth.

 

[ls1frc]

I am tackling this tomorrow. Installing the latest revision of the Morel dropin lifters and new trays. I will inspect the cam lobes through the block as well as inspect the lifter rollers and if they all look fine I'll leave the cam in.

Headers going back on too, Kooks reflared the socket connections so hopefully no more leak there.

I am really hoping this is the issue!

 

[Geotrash]

I am tackling this tomorrow. Installing the latest revision of the Morel dropin lifters and new trays. I will inspect the cam lobes through the block as well as inspect the lifter rollers and if they all look fine I'll leave the cam in.

Headers going back on too, Kooks reflared the socket connections so hopefully no more leak there.

I am really hoping this is the issue!

Good luck! Let us know how it goes!

 

[ls1frc]

I completed the job today. Took me 15 hrs.

The engine is quiet. Oil PSI is up 15 psi fully warm. I am happy but also really pissed. Will report back on cold start tomorrow. But even the fresh start just now was quieter.

 

[ls1frc]

Hot oil psi was 21 with the johnsons. Means the lifter body is smaller than factory and bleeding oil pressure like crazy. I am not happy, at all.

I have done some research and Johnson recommends measuring each lifter bore before using their lifters. What casual person upgrading their cam would do this? It's a shame because you can see the craftsmanship over the Morel's is night and day difference. The Morels are not even in the same ballpark quality wise. Johnson lifters have forged body, strong snap ring instead of the thin wire on stock/Morels, etc. But it doesn't matter if it's going to drop your oil pressure by 15 psi.

I hope they work with me here, lot of money and time spent on this. I am crossing my fingers for the cold start tomorrow to be fixed!

 

[Geotrash]

Nice job on getting the job done. And I’m glad the results are positive. Was there any damage to the cam or any of the lifters?

 

[ls1frc]

Nice job on getting the job done. And I’m glad the results are positive. Was there any damage to the cam or any of the lifters?

Thanks. Cam lobes looked perfect. A couple lifters had light lines on them, but were smooth. Usually that comes from small debris in the oil.

 

[ls1frc]

Cold start noise is fixed. There was just a little lifter noise but gone by end of driveway. Im so happy its fixed.

 

[Geotrash]

Cold start noise is fixed. There was just a little lifter noise but gone by end of driveway. Im so happy its fixed.

Fantastic! Now you can drive it another 200K without being annoyed/worried by the lifter noise. Glad you didn't have to replace the cam. My Morels are still quiet too, thankfully.