Today I came home from work in the 82 trans am and it ran fine to and from work. HOwever when I left my house again it ran fine until A few feet after getting onto the next street..All of the sudden a small knocking sound turned into a progressively louder one with more throttle..i immediately pulled over and put it into park..still the same sound. It seemed like it was coming from the left side of the engine(passenger)..To explain the sound..it sounded like a rocker was hitting the inside of the valve cover...however it didnt have the length of a rocker motion(tick tick) it had the delay as if it was making the noise everytime the a piston on that side would come to TDC..I didnt loose compression and i drove it home( 2 minutes away) and the sound was always the same level and type..it sounded the same just when i turned it off.... I am assuming that I could have droppped a valve.However I took the valve cover off and all of the rockers were generally tight how they should and the pushrods were still in their normal positions.
-I am assuming that if I actually blew my engine such as the connecting rod broke or something major internally...it would sease up instantly or would get really loud and sound like more damage was occuring. However its didnt stall or anything..
Thank you in advance for any responses

 

The engine problems you're experiencing are not "convertible specific" and can better be addressed in another forum.

Lon