Raylar

Rage:

I certainly am not trying to be mean spirited or self serving here, but after watching and slightly participating in your efforts to make a 525HP or so 496 out of your original stock 496 it seems as though if you took all the money and huge amount of time and frustration you have taken on this motor you might have been better served just to have purchased one of our 496 kits and bolted it on and gone boating.
I know from our conversations and your threads over the past several years you love to do this stuff and tweak on engines but in this case your lessons, time and expenses seem to have gotten so counterproductive that it must be a bit frustrating and your still not at a place of having a resonably upgraded power 496 that will run day in and day out over long periods of time like it should. I guess a lot of performance boaters /self taught engine tweakers sometimes get themselves into this trap and I just wish I could have convinced you a couple of years ago not to go down this road.

In any event, After at WOT run and the engine idles for a while with this valve train clatter (lifter noise or such) does the oil cool and the clatter stop?
Your saying this condition did not start until you reversed oil flow to the Hardin cooler?
My thoughts with respect to your valvetrain issues and bent parts are such that if they are somewhat grossly bad now your valve train noises would be pretty much all the time noises.
On a mechanical guage at the back of the block what is your cold oil pressure and what is it when hot after most WOT runs even when you first did the rebuild -upgrade?
Did you replace the oil gallery vented (hole in center) plugs with solid plugs?
Are you usuing Raylars HV/HD - Melling special oil pump or something else?
Did you fool with or change the oil pressure relief valve settings on the oil pump or the oil pump relief valve springs?
If you change the oil flow direction on your installed cooler does this condition stop?
You know you've experimented on the build of this engine so much that it now becomes harder to think thru and find your gremlins.
Keep it simple for now, reverse the oil direction back to the way it was, if it stops YOUR DONE, go use your boat and stop tinkering!

Best Regards,
Ray @ Raylar

Rage

Thanks everyone. I now see that I omited a significant point. All the lifters are not making noise. Only one or two on the left bank only.

I am out of town until March so trying to learn all possible causes for when I get back in March and tear into it. I am trying to determine if I have to pull the engine (want to avoid if at all possible) or not to identify /correct the problem.

Rage

RESPONSES TO YOUR QUESTIONS ABOVE. IF YOU THINK OF ANYTHING ELSE PLEASE INCLUDE.

THANKS FOR YOUR INPUT RAY.

Rage

I know I will be tearing into it to see what I can find. I am really trying to figure out if the problem can be resolved without having to get into the lower end or not. There is a big big difference in my situation if I have to pull the engine or not.

Raylar

Thanks Rage:

I think the stud issue could have damaged a lifter or two with the changed ratio a bent stud could produce.
Do you have aftermarket roller lifter?
Do you have aftermarket roller rockers?
Have you changed rocker ratios from 1.7 to something higher?
Have you changed the pushrods or are they still stock?
Which camshaft are you running and who made it? What was the base circle size if you know?

Just a few more questions here to give me some more thoughts.

600HP is impressive if you are really there but that should not be a real problem. We built SD FEVERS 600HP plus 496 and he's got big hours on that puppy and believe me when I say he drives it like he stole it in saltwater all the time!

If you've got roller rockers, you might want to run the engines at idle with the valve covers off and pinpoint if its the rocker making the noise, the lifter itself or even maybe a valve noise.

Those oil pressures cold seem fine but the hot oil pressures seem maybe just a little low considering you've got a big aftermarket oil cooler on there with a thermosat I suppose.
Low oil pressure as a whole should make all lifters noisy someaht the same, not just two or so isolated lifters.

Best Regards,
Ray @ Raylar

Rage

AN ADDITIONAL ITEM IS THAT UNDER THE PARTICULAR WEATHER CONDITIONS I RAN THIS TIME THE ENGINE WOULD NORMALLY TURN 5800 RPM AT WOT BUT WOULD ONLY SPIN 5500 RPM AND FELT SLUGGISH.

THANKS AGAIN FOR YOUR INSIGHT AND SUGGESTIONS.

Greenkeeper

I don't understand why the stock lifters have not been replaced. I agree w mike tkach I think something is not right in the valve train, If it was me, I would call Eddie at Young Performance marine. This guy knows his stuff and I think that he is the sharpest one that I've spoke to. Don't let the cajun accent fool you this guy goes into such detail its crazy, and has probally forgotten more than most so called professionals know. Spoke to him this week regarding my engine and could tell that he is a master in this field. Personally I think you need to get ready to pull the motor. I did not see that Raylar was in on the thread, he seems to be sharp as well.

Rage

Ray,

The base circle of my current HP3 Gen II cam appears to be about 0.070" smaller than the stock 496HO cam. I accumulated 120 hours with the HP3 Gen I Crane cam and 95 hours with the HP3 Gen II Comp Cam cam both with 0.6" lift though the base circle could have been different on the Crane. Oil pressure at the previously described oil pressure sensor locations has been sufficient during the 215 engine hour period.

Raylar

If you got 95 engine hours with this newer version cam with its slightly smaller base circle with no such valve train noise then that's not the problem. As I said, this noise did not show up until you reversed oil flow at the cooler is that so? Is that what you were describing? If that is the case, reverse the oil line direction back and see if the noise stops.
I am saying this because that appears to be what you said in your original post.

Regards,
Ray @ Raylar

DesertRage

iTrader: (2)

Bill,

Is the oil entering on the thermostat side of the cooler? This is the way mine is routed and it seems to be working well.

Jon