i am working on a 2003 s10 with a 4.3. engine is stock other than some 918 springs and the marine intake. just bumped the boost from 13psi up to 18psi and it bent a pushrod before i got thru one good pull.

e85, tune looked good, no knock. question is do i just need to put some better pushrods in there or was it likely caused by a larger issue. anyone know off hand what pushrods i should be ordering?

 

Hmm. Not sure why a pushrod would bend. Unless something worked loose?? I had a issue not long ago with a rocker becoming loose. I caught as soon as I heard it. Pulled the cover off to find the rocker just flopping around luckily nothing was damaged. I would just check other parts to make sure nothing is wore out or damaged. Pushrods are the same length as a 350 so any hardened set would work fine

 

I've been meaning to try to find out how that truck is doing since its been setup w the turbo. Any issues besides the pushrod lol. Tranny holding together???

 

truck is holding up, owner drives it all over the place. ran a 12.8 with 13psi. i told the owner that 13psi is pushing it a little and more boost might be getting into the breakage area and he is ready to see what breaks.

 

Haha nice. Is there anything done to the tranny?? I'm looking into either doing the same setup on mine or go a different route. I'm torn lol.

 

Sounds like a isolated incident.What process did you do to preload the lifters?
What kind of temps is the coolant through a pass at 13#'s?
Could've blown that side of the head up from the block.I'd imagine 4.3l's being lil more prone to lifting then a 5.7l.
What lifter was it? in.? ex.?Cylinder?

 

The 4.3s are non adjustable valvetrain. Just tighten and go.

 

it has a mild converter in it, shift kit and cooler.

non adjustable, cyl 3, intake side. it was still fireing on that cylinder and no smoke or excessive blow by.

coolant temps depend of outside temp and number of runs. one run and it will still be at 180deg but hot lapping it will get it up to 220deg.

 

Nice. I'm def wanting to copy that setup. A cam with more lsa would wake that motor up.

 

OK,So same way as a ls style rockers.The lifter was preloaded a little more with the 918's then stock I would guess.This is likely a matter of just changing the PR's I would guess,but the more I look at the way its bent just seems a lil suspect.Maybe somebody can share a picture of another PR thats bent.Preferably in a scenario where the problem was corrected.