Lifter tick only when not on level ground?

Hmm, so apparently unrelated, but in the bottom of the oil pan was a bunch of clearish whiteish plastic pieces stained by oil. Any idea what those are? The pan probly hasnt been off since the factory.

 

If my pan had that in it and it still ran good, think I could assume my gears are metal and good?

 

Ok bunch of thoughts and questions, bear with me.

I still dont know if the tick tick metal sound that started all this will be gone from simply tightening the few loose tranny to engine bolts. I was going to leave the motor in the car, just put the pan back on and drive it, but since finding the plastic gear chunks there is more to investigate.

Question is, is there a test they do on torque converters out of the car, to see if they are good? It may then be worth me pulling the motor and pulling the converter and having it tested.

Also....... since I need to take the front cover off anyway, and the only other things in the way are valvecovers and intake I'm thinking of a cam upgrade.
(Well, radiator removal too but thats easy, p.s. **I have some rust forming on the bottom 4 rows, is that a sign that it needs replaced?)

For cam swap sounds like all I would need is a cam, lifters and timing set from TA.

I do actually have a 212 (cam only) from TA on the shelf. It came from a guy who said he buiilt a motor and ran it "5 minutes" and blew up pistons. I would think I could take this cam to any shop that builds motors and they could tell me if its usable by looking at it?

How do I tell if the existing cam bearings are still good?

The other thing is will the 212 not work well for me if I have the 2.56 rear diff? Not enough low end? My current cam is stock.

This would be my first time doing a cam swap.

 

I since I will have the timing cover off I want to pick a cam that gives me more torque at low rpm than the stock one. Is Crower level2 the only one?

I am thinking of possibly a 2004r swap, but unsure of the difficulty and cost. I could easily replace my factory TH350 but the swap I here may involve a new driveshaft length, and not sure of other modifications needed. But the lower 1st gear would help my take offs from a stop. Though I'm not sure if a 2.56 rear and overdrive would end up in reduiculously low rpm cruising?

Any tips helpful.

 

You would need a 3.73 --4.10 rear gear which will require installing a new carrier.

 

Could use a ring gear spacer . but I would only do that with a lower power engine. Or temporarily until you get a better one.

 

I thought many of those cars with the 2004r had a 3.08 rear diff. 2.56 wont work huh?

 

2.56 x 0.67 = 1.7152 final drive ratio

 

Too tall a gear. You will drop the rpm of the engine down to low in overdrive. Lugging the engine Like that will defeat the purpose. 3.42 is what gm uses most in light trucks with a overdrive trans. You will actually get worse mpg with the 2.56 then a 3.42 .

 

...and this is why it is slow off the line, not your cam.

 

OK so the TH350 stays,.
How about a different stall converter?

Also I have been advised that the flexplate could indeed be cracked because where they do crack is not where you can see it with the inspection plate off, its in the center. So if I have to separate the engine and trans to inspect I could swap converters...

 

If anyone has a bolt in 3.08 rear wheel to wheel somewhere within a few hours of Minneapolis I'd be interested.
Or know of an affordable place that swaps gears..

Sorry if it seems like anything getting done takes forever, it kinda does I work fulltime and drive 3 hours a day. But the next few weekends I do have off.

 

Thanks ya I'm leaning twards the TA212, what does that do to my ignition timing/advance that I had set up pretty nice with the stock system?

 

So I took off the fuel pump and with a flashlight I can easily see that the cam gear is metal and teeth look good. Can I also check for play in the timing chain thru the Fpump hole?

 

Timing chain is right there in pic. Not timing belt