ticking noise, scuffed valve spring retainers

Do you have any of the ZZP retainers that didn't get damaged by the other Rocker Arms.
If so, try one of those on a spring with the new RR's and see what the clearance is like.

Rickw wrote:

Do you have any of the ZZP retainers that didn't get damaged by the other Rocker Arms.
If so, try one of those on a spring with the new RR's and see what the clearance is like.

I'm putting the new retainers and RR on the front bank and I'm gonna try to keep a close eye on it and see how it looks. The clearance between the RR and the retainer is promising enough.

I have all front retainers replaced now. 4 of those retainers I took off were mushroomed in the center to the point where I had to file at them with a screwdriver to get the keepers through. That's bad.

I'm glad I noticed a problem after only installing two of them and then going back to stock retainers before starting the engine.
Have you thought about how much metal might have gone through everything in the engine.
I'm sure you've changed oil and filter multiple times since installing them originally but hopefully all is OK.

all retainers installed... we'll see what happens



and a really bad video one how to swap retainers - that's the hardest part of changing the valvetrain. I'm going to leave the rear alone for right now to see how the front setup works for me.

it looks like you guys had alot of fun! thats what its all about!

1.61 for some reason... .523" / .539" lift oh baby

front's all done and I've driven the car almost 20mi with em. The noise to speak of is gone! I'm going to visually recheck everything with them after some time and see how it all looks. A little later, after I've rechecked everything on the front, I'll go ahead and do the rear. Since the noise is practically gone now, I might suppose the rear isn't as problematic but in any case, results are good so far!

lol you drunk!!! Do work son!

Glad it worked out for you. Although I'd probably do the rears too as I'd figure those would have the same effect, no? Best of luck.

yes, you should do the rears before any more wear occurs. Any metal on metal = bad

I find this all very interesting, you and Rick having identical problems and ZZP stating that there's nothing wrong. I find it interesting how they can just say there is no problem with the other 500 sets they've sold and not consider what you are experiencing. At least get/give some measurements, dimensions, acknowledge the issue anyhow.

I'm seeing two issues. First is the outter edge being convex instead of concave and the mention that you had to file them for the keepers.

I'm still curious / concerned about the diameter of the retainers you installed. They barely covered the coils of the spring.

Quote :

I find this all very interesting, you and Rick having identical problems and ZZP stating that there's nothing wrong.

Once again, this is not a new thing for ZZP. They should have 'fessed up to it. I know I read about nearly the exact same issue happening 3-4 years ago with CompCam retainers. Check Club GP and/or 3800 Perf forum archives for the dirt.

Really glad to see you're getting this sorted out!

Another buddy.. mentioned something about a problem with CC Ti retainers and CC HD valve locks a few years back. Said the locks with those retainers at taht point would recess the valve lower than the retainer.

He theorized that the HD locks Turtle used may have something to do wtih it. No idea personally, merely passing it along.

^^^ very good point. The keepers can lock the retainer at a higher or lower height, depending on their design, correct? I think this could be very possibly the reason for the problem.

While it might be.. ...without knowing the potential issue... I have titanium retainers and went with the HD locks on my heads. There was no issues of height or recessing.

Bump ... Did you install the rear rockers?

oldsman105 wrote:

Bump ... Did you install the rear rockers?

I started doing that at about 6:00 today after I got home from work. Since about 6:45, I've been looking for a keeper I lost somewhere in the engine bay. I have covered a lot of surface area with my hand and a magnet and so far found only the exhaust nut I lost when I was doing my headers.

Anyone who wants to take a ride over here with a cc valve lock is gonna be receiving a

Why not just use the OEM valve locks and compare them to the CC ones and see if they are the source of the retainer height issue.

Been there and know that your feeling the biggest concern is hopefully it didn't go into the engine.

Best of luck if you haven't already found it.

now waiting for a set of keepers to come
of course now zzp decides to start being slow on me

Have you compared the OEM to CC valve locks to see if there is any discernible difference.?????
I'm very curious and while you have the valve covers off you may be able to compare.

Rickw wrote:

Have you compared the OEM to CC valve locks to see if there is any discernible difference.?????
I'm very curious and while you have the valve covers off you may be able to compare.

I don't have any OEM ones to compare to. I pretty much threw away all my stock valvetrain parts when I moved.

I don't remember noticing any difference between them when I originally did the cam and stuff.

I changed mine and didn't notice any difference but wasn't really looking at them that closely.
I changed them, finished up the job and didn't give it much thought until lately while we've been discussing this retainer height issue.

I got the keepers in the mail today. I didn't get off work until 10pm and then I ate dinner and stuff so I didn't really get to the car until about 11:00. At this point the new retainers and keepers are installed and the valve cover is back on. Still need to replace the fuel rails, alternator, etc.

I'm probably going to take another peek under the front valve cover before I put it all completely back together to check things out. I know for certain there is a very healthy amount of retainer to rocker clearance now so I guess I'll look for any other signs of problems but having already driven with the front done with good results, I don't think I have anything to worry about now, unless of course the lost keeper is in the motor, then it's going to be interesting.

Ok I've totally finished it. Rolled it over for a while w/o fuel - no noises - and then started it and ran it briefely to make sure its ok to drive to work tomorrow... well actually today at 8am. So far it looks good.

There definitely was something going on with the keepers. I did notice that some retainers appeared to be sitting at slightly different levels relative to the head of the valve stems. When I installed the new retainers and new keepers on the back, I didn't have such noticable variences so I went ahead and changed the keepers in the front to the new ones. They look level now. I compared the new keepers to the old ones but didn't really see any obvious contrasts.