how to know its time for a rebuild?

[Dr.Zoom]

What do you suggesy I do then?

First off don't tear into anything yet. This isn't ready, fire, aim. You might not have to open the engine up at all. You're scaring me with that tightening up your lifter talk. You want to avoid opening things unnecessarily if you can, it increases the chance of something getting messed up.

What's your oil pressure?

1) When you first start the engine cold(been sitting overnight).
2) When it's warm(been driven at least 15 minutes) at 2,500 rpm
3) When it's warm at idle.

 

[96C1500]

Run her till the wheels fall off, if it runs good and has oil pressure you should be fine, most Chevies tick anyway haha.

Sent from my Vortec powered HTC One M8

 

[Dr.Zoom]

When it won't run nemore

Run her till the wheels fall off, if it runs good and has oil pressure you should be fine, most Chevies tick anyway haha.

Sent from my Vortec powered HTC One M8

I agree with this sentiment.

You probably can get rid of the tick. I got rid of mine. If you have really low oil pressure, it may not be pumping up the lifters in which case you can figure out the best weight oil to use. Or they could be filthy and sticking. It can take several MMO(or Seafoam) treatments to de-grime things.

 

[Dr.Zoom]

One more question: What's your oil consumption? In other words, how much oil are you adding how often?

 

[96C1500]

I agree with this sentiment.

You probably can get rid of the tick. I got rid of mine. If you have really low oil pressure, it may not be pumping up the lifters in which case you can figure out the best weight oil to use. Or they could be filthy and sticking. It can take several MMO(or Seafoam) treatments to de-grime things.

Seafoam in the vacuum line? Or crankcase? Mine has a very minor tick that I don't worry about but it would be nice to get rid of it so when I pull up next to a building it doesn't annoy me.

Sent from my Vortec powered HTC One M8

 

[Dr.Zoom]

I put 20% Marvel in the crankcase when I changed the oil, ran it for about 1,500 miles then the day I was going to change it and put 100% oil back in, I topped it off with Marvel(about 1/2 quart) and drove it home and changed the oil. It's been about 6k miles now with no tick. Before that, I had used smaller doses that would quiet it down for a little bit. After this many miles, I'm thinking I've got it, but who knows if it'll start again.