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I would be looking for all the aluminum,and where it went....pull the pan,if not engine to inspect,imho.

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Agree. Unfortunately last summer I had a lifter on its way to failure (flat tappet with little to no load) and the bottom of the lifter became concave the associated cam lobe had begun to wear down too. Wear was minimal but took the approach mentioned above and ended up finding metallic residue from cam and lifter on the windage tray and scoring in the oil pump (that metal all has to go somewhere). Went ahead and turned a cam swap into an overhaul.

Hope you get it all sorted out and back in working order!

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Shoot just spray wash it off with some cleaner, put new rockers on run it!!!!!!!
LOL

I could not do it but maybe you can get by!!!?????LOL

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That's what most people do

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Shoot just spray wash it off with some cleaner, put new rockers on run it!!!!!!!
LOL

I could not do it but maybe you can get by!!!?????LOL

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That's what most people do

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For what its worth my swap meet small block aluminum rockers have shaft grooves that extend beyond the rockers. They are not mounted in blocks. 145 on the seat 340 open.
Doug

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For what its worth my swap meet small block aluminum rockers have shaft grooves that extend beyond the rockers. They are not mounted in blocks. 145 on the seat 340 open.
Doug

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When is the last time you took them apart and inspected them? I wouldn't think that the grooves should be extending past the rockers.

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After thinking about this more w/the groove deal, what about rockers w/springs instead of spacers. Tell me those don`t send WAY more oil out the rocker sides w/no spacers. He never did answer weather or not both sides were oiling properly when priming and turning motor over if so, shaft issues period. It`s the oils last path............

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The rockers appear to have gotten really hot. From what I've seen on Matweb, the tensile strength of aluminum drops off pretty fast with increasing temperature. That will explain the failure of the bore. Any aluminum rocker will do that with that amount of heat. The hard chromed shafts might help with the galling problem. I think I'd replace all the rockers and shafts and maybe keep some of those that look OK as spares.

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and that area would be the hottest - valve train wise. I wouldn't be surprised if it started with a little heat soaking upon shutdown and start-up with minimal oil film protection in that area. Once a little aluminum started to transfer, it was all over in a hurry. Again, IMO, it started with a heat issue first.

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If I would have found anything installed wrong or out of spec. there would have been no reason to post anything, I would have had my answer. But, since everything checked out OK, about the only thing that sounds plausible is the damage started from the shaft grooves. Whether it was from a burr, lack of lube at start-up because it sits for long periods between driving, grooves too long or a combination of these. Probably can't be determined at this point.

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Not saying you don't or could have caught this problem, but inspection maintenance on any " high performance" motor that you beat on regularly should be OFTEN. With todays aggressive cam profiles and accompanying high spring pressures, valve train should be looked at very often. My routine is every 10 to 12 passes down the track the valve covers come off. Besides running the valves, I pay special attention to the rockers, retainers, keepers, springs, and look for any metal around the spring pockets in the heads. All the plugs come out and I look at them closely for heat issues, coloration, metal specs on the porcelain, etc. About every second or third inspection I run a compression check. Since Dec of 2012 ( approx. when motor was built ) I have done 7 compression checks. I have a great history since motor was new, so I have a good idea what is going on inside the motor. Same thing with oil pressure readings. I know what the norm is hot / cold and mark my gauge accordingly. It's all time consuming and boring, but I believe it can pay off if you can catch a failure in progress.

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For what its worth my swap meet small block aluminum rockers have shaft grooves that extend beyond the rockers. They are not mounted in blocks. 145 on the seat 340 open.
Doug

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When is the last time you took them apart and inspected them? I wouldn't think that the grooves should be extending past the rockers.

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The valve train was checked and valve lash adjusted less than 100 miles ago. Everything checked out fine valve lash was within .001 of each other. No metal on heads or in valley. There was little warning when it let go less than minute from the time I head it tell motor shut down. Motor has 80 plus # of oil pressure off idle and 60 at idle. Oil pressure was normal when motor started knocking.
Mike

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Bummer! Keeps reading heat issue to me, but . . . . . ? Guess it always could have been a lot worse - unfortunately that doesn't answer your question.

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For what its worth my swap meet small block aluminum rockers have shaft grooves that extend beyond the rockers. They are not mounted in blocks. 145 on the seat 340 open.
Doug

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When is the last time you took them apart and inspected them? I wouldn't think that the grooves should be extending past the rockers.

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I ran iron rockers on home grooved shafts that extended beyond the rockers for years (10+). To be honest with these I probably have checked lash once a year. This year I haven't even run the car do to running the new car. I've never had lash move more than.001". I feel pretty confident with no lash change that they are fine.
Doug

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