My bad roller rocker!!
 

what would cause this wear pattern? a bad rocker, bad spring, or something else? sorry the image isn't too clear.
http://members.aol.com/tjk72/images/thad5%20copy.jpg

my guess
 

I think it might be a collapsed lifter, or maybe a rocker that came lose. I have the same head/rocker combo. my .02:confused:

Another thought, a worn trunion bearing on the rocker itself would cause side to side motion and possibly wear out the pushrod seat like you see there. The dirty secret of roller rockers is they last 30-50,000 miles or so before wearing out!

Post that other f'ed up pic, dude!!! :eek:

I agree with Chevyguy. How many miles are on them?

Take care,
-Chris

I'm having problems with getting my pictures to upload or else i'd show you the other damage to them. That rocker is one of two that i replaced.(still didn't help my tapping problem). All of them have about 70,000 miles on them. the other rocker didn't have that wear around the pushrod seat. They both came off the #7cyl.
and it's still tapping. I'll post the other pic's asap.:confused:

In that case, you probably have a flat spot on the cam.

Take care,
-Chris

Here ya go dude!

Sorry some are so blurry!

http://www.joe4speed.com/P3180083.JPG

http://www.joe4speed.com/thad6.jpg

http://www.joe4speed.com/thad7.jpg

UNknown?
 

Based on what I have seen from the new pics. I can only guess at what could be the cause of the problem. The pic at the top, the left rocker has scars near the base which might indicate an overtightened rocker during assembly of the engine thus leading to failure of the lifter which supports it. Why there is such a wierd wear pattern of both rockers is unknown, but still suggests to me it is not a rounded cam lobe unless you are using a non-synthetic oil which might cause pre-mature failure of said cam lobe. Because this is isolated to one cylinder, I believe the problem lies with the lifters, hense the tapping sound you hear after replacement of the worn rockers. In my experince, roller rockers are inhearently noisely anyway because of the many moving parts. There definantly is a problem if there is too much noise. my .02 :p

Wow. That is severe. I would say either a bad lifter, bent pushrod, broken spring, bad set-screw, flat spot on the cam, worn valve guide, or any combination of the above. What was it like before you removed it? Was the rocker loose? Did it look like it had backed off?

Those things look like they were flopping around like fish! What were they hitting to cause that wear? I would assume they gouged the keepers somewhat. You definately have more damage than just those rockers, you probably bent some pushrods in the process at the least.

pretty severe, huh! there was nothing loose or out of place when i first popped the covers. i believe that damage was there before i even got the car. I know that didn't happen since i've been driving it. everything has been done except rebuild and springs. new lifters, new rockers for #7 cyl, 3 adjustments, compression check, pushrods checked (not bent or worn), oil pressure's good, replaced exhaust gaskets. Would it be worth me replacing my springs at this point or should i have the heads rebuilt first?I can't do the heads until 2nd week of May, because of school, but the springs i can do over the weekend. or would it be worth it to take it to the guy who built the motor to find the problem or problems for $130 bucks.i'm pretty much down to this unless someone has a better thought on the situation?

It probably sounded like a 2000 lb fish flopping around when that damage happened.That was funny Chevyguy!:D

Thanks Joe for posting those pics for me.

And thanks for the support from all of you on this, it's much appreciated,
thad

looks like those rockers were thrown down the street a few times BEFORE they were put on the motor. I dont think that damage happened on your motor, or else you would have obvious other damage close by.

Next time you have those valve covers off, let me come by and look too! Just to see!!! :eek:

I'll let you know Joe. It will probably be next weekend but if i get ansi i'll do it this weekend.