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Switch to a heavier weight oil on older motor?

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  • Switch to a heavier weight oil on older motor?

    In off topic because this is not 60v6 related.

    I fired up my LT1 for the first time yesterday since winter storage. It is a 94 Corvette with 110k miles. A little history...Last summer I installed roller rockers and stronger springs (stock cam). I reused the stock pushrods and lifters. I set preload by running the motor without valve covers and tightening each rocker until it stopped tapping, then I added 1 full turn. It seemed good until a few months later, I noticed that once the oil was up to temp (180* on the dash, yup it has an oil temp gauge) that when I come down to an idle it runs quietly for a few seconds but then I can hear a tick start in the valvetrain. It sounds like 1 or 2 rockers might not be adjusted tight enough.

    At least one of the Corvette folks suggested switching to 10w30. The motor does not burn, leak, or consume any oil whatsoever and has had 5w30 Mobile 1 since I've owned it (that is the recommended brand and weight). I'm leary to switch to 10w30. Sure, it is 17yrs old and has over 100k but I don't think there are sloppy cleareances. It holds 40psi oil pressure at hot idle. The motor never made a noise with the stock stamped rockers so I think this must be somehow related to the roller rockers. My thought is that I have 1 or 2 poorly adjusted rocker arms or possibly a lifter that is collapsing at idle.

    Just thought I'd dip into the 60v6 knowledge base for some opinions. I'm sure some of you guys have worked on SBCs and the LT1 is pretty much based off the SBC so the valvetrain is similar/same.
    1991 Grand Prix GTP LX9swap/Getrag 284 --- SOLD =(
    1994 Corvette
    LT1/ZF6
    2006 Dodge Dakota 4x4
    3.7/42RLE
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