Hi,new to the site,got sum questions

[hypedz34]

Hi i just got my first car wich is a chevrolet lumina z34.I was wondering,teir is a tapping sound coming from what i think is the top of the engine.my father and i think its a lifter.what can i do to make it go away and if it not that what could it be???also as u take off from a stop their is a bit of hesitation what could that be???thanx if you could help!!!!!!

[Z34teen]

the second problem is most likely air in the brake lines. Bleeding the brakes should solve that. As for the ticking noise, more specifics would help. Also, what year is the Z34?

[hypedz34]

ok the hesitation went away.but the tapping noise is still their.its a 93 and has about 155,000 miles on it.i plan to rebuild the engine soon.what other specifics are u refering to that u may need?thanx for the hesitation problem fix.

[Z34teen]

does the tick only occur between certain RPM's? it could be alot of things, but I don't think it will affect it too much since you're going to rebuild it soon anyways. and... DAMN that's alot of miles... I only have 112,700. If you do the proper maintenance on these cars, they can last forever.

[Jevik]

155k miles is nothing... I know I sold my cavalier with 197k miles and it ran like a top. These v6's can and do run forever

[hypedz34]

only sometimes does the hesitation come now when i leave regularly from a complete stop.then this happens again when cruising at 50 down the road.my father said that becuz the previous owner zip tied the spark plug wires togetherthats what is causing it that if i cut the zip tie nd have them freeky apart this will go away.iz this true??also where would i be able to find the cheapest rebuild kit for my 93 chevrolet z34??

[93grandprixse]

you probably cant find a rebuild kit for it...

this is something i didnt realize when i started working on cars, i thaught mechanics were dicks because they would always tell me about doing it right, and that i didnt know what i was doing, i was basicly like "screw them, i know how to rebuild this shit" but honestly, theres alot more than you think there is to know...

id say a decent rebuild for your engine would probably be

piston rings
bearings
light hone with a dingleberry hone
lifters
valve job
new gaskets all around
new o rings all around

this sounds simple, but theres alot of measuring and figuring you have to do before you go out and buy parts... if you need help with anything, feel free to pm me...

Jordan

[pocket-rocket]

A hesitation isn't going to be from air in the brake lines either. Air in the brake lines would cause a spongy brake pedal and bad stopping power. Try simple stuff first. Take one of the front plugs out (when the engine is cold, hot aluminum heads and pulling plugs doesn't mix) and see what they look like and buy new ones if need be (just not Bosch Platinums, trust me). Also, go to your local GM dealer with about $8-10 and buy a can of Top Engine cleaner and follow the directions found here. If your car needs new plugs, wait to change them after using the Top Engine Cleaner. As for the ticking, take the cover off that says "Twin Dual Cam" off and see if it gets louder. If it does, it's your injectors. The ones on the DOHC aren't really that quiet, and there isn't much you can do about it unless you want to swap them out for different ones, but then you have to be sure to get the right ones for your application. You can't just swap injectors in from something else and expect it to work right due to flow rating of injectors, spray pattern, ect. If it gets louder after driving it hard, it is a lifter, and I would try running a little heavier oil. But now that all of that is out of the way, welcome to the board!

[hypedz34]

ok thanx.the ticking only occurs at start of the engine but i dont here it when i get going,only when im at a stop and sometimes when taking off.also if i do take the plugs out what ones should i put in?thanx for the help

[pocket-rocket]

Factory AC Delcos are good since you're not doing anything radical like boost or N2O. What kind of oil filter are you running? Sounds like your oil pressure might be dropping at low RPMs (tick at start up is a common thing on these engines, btw). If you answer Fram, throw it out and don't ever use a Fram again. Get a Purolator or something. Frams have problems flowing enough volume of oil. If it isn't a Fram, try bumping up your oil weight some to something a little more thicker to build a little more pressure. Don't make a huge bump since too much pressure can blow seals out and create more parasitic loss by making the engine work harder to turn the oil pump.

[hypedz34]

ok yea i do have a fram oil filter.and im running a straight 30 weight oil.also im having a hard time finding a re build kit for it.also i would like to super charge or boost it but im not shure wich would be better in my case.also not shure wat turbo to get.

[pocket-rocket]

I would go to the library and start reading up on performance books that deal with boost. The point made to me a long time ago about S/C vs turbo in a FWD car is weight transfer doesn't work on your side, so if you have a S/C that adds low end torque (roots and screw styles) your going to have a hard time taking off. Our engines naturally have a good top end of the hp curve, so my plan was going to be to build on that with a turbo when I can actually afford to do something cool to my car. You probably won't find any rebuild kits readily available for it, but if you went radical on a rebuild, you would probably be getting forged pistons anyways which would be custom one offs. Visiting your local machine shop and talking with the machinist wouldn't be a bad idea either, because he can tell you what you need, what you need to know and stuff like that. He might not be able to say, "Yeah, you need "X" turbo if you want to do this", but that's where the library comes in handy. You have to figure out when you want your turbo to spool and stuff like that. If you got one that spooled way low like 1500-2000 RPMs, it would run out of steam when your winding out at 6000 rpms and not be doing much more then heating air in the intake and become a restriction in the exhaust. The key to getting the right result is research

[hypedz34]

ok after i cut the zip tie from the sparkplug wires that had them together it took away all the hesitation all together.so the car does not hesitate n e more.but now i ran into another problem.the pasenger door handle does not open and this morning the driver side door handle broke too.how da hell do i get into my car???????iz it possible to take out the back seat through the trunk??or how would i get into it.

[pocket-rocket]

I would pry the top of the door open and use a coat hanger to pull the inside handle after the door is unlocked. You can get replacement handles, just don't buy a used one. They are made of pot-metal and are cheap/brittle. One of the local yards here stocks brand new ones and won't sell used ones for this reason. Last time I checked, they charged about $50 each here.

[hypedz34]

ok i got in the car through da trunk by pushing the seat down nd sum how crawling through da hole nd gettin inside da car.took me a half hour.i fixed both door handels sum how without replacing them both.thanks for the help though my next plan waz to do wat u said.thanx for everything.now new question wat are some cheap mods i could do to my car??