Ok I have a slight ticking noise comeing from the valve train. At least I think its where its coming from. I can't seem to find any exhaust leaks so I don't think its that. I have adjusted the rockers twice while the engine is running at idle. So they are not loose. They are adjusted in this way: I backed each one off until the ticking was loud tightened it until the noise went away then an additional half turn as recommended by a friend who races a lot does his own work and he has won each season for a couple years in a row. So I think the half turn is right since mine is high performance street. I have a hyd. cam and roller rockers and stock hight pushrods for this 327 engine. Is this sound normal, (I have seen a few other cars with the same sound) can it do any damage to the engine, or how can I correct it? Thanks... Erik

 

i'd try to pin point the source of the sound. a quality stethoscope is worth having for this. after you've narrowed it down a little look for bad lifter, wore rocker ball, exhaulstleaks, all the things you've been looking for.

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ICON Motorsports
1st & 3rd

 

does it continue after motor has run awhile?

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~mike~
1 superclean 86IROC-Z

 

I think it continues as long as the engine is running. Had to tell but i hear it once in a while while driving it the conditions are right. My motor is fairly noisy. It seems as if its coming from all the rockers. It also is not very loud just noticable to me at least.

 

Oh yeah also all the parts are pretty new, cam lifters pushrods roller rockers ball nuts. The oldest part is just over a year old and has less than 10,000 miles on it. So its possible but I doubt its a worn out part. Maybe the half turn isn't enough or I should have gone with a different pushrod? Or faulty part maybe. But for it to be coming from all of themI don't know

 

You have a worn out valve guide. Had the EXACT same symptoms on my motor this past summer. They were all pretty loose and making a little noise but #3 exhaust was GONE BABY! We're talking more than 1/32" wiggle at the top of the valve stem! Likewise, I had the heads redone only a few thousand miles before but the dirt-weeds put intake-style positive seals on the exhaust guides which obviously ran them just a little too dry on oil.

Best way to diagnose it is to get a mechanics stethescope and put the probe on top of each rocker arm stud as the motor is running. They will all sound like "tick, tick, tick" but the really bad one will go "clack clack clack."

Another way to zero-in on it is to play with the valve adjustment. As you tighten down the rocker arm on the offending valve the tapping will go away momentarily only to come back again a few seconds later as the lifter bleeds down.

The other thing it could be is the early stages of a cam going flat but that's usually a totally different set of symptoms- no noise for a few days after adjusting valves and then the tick is back. Adjust again, quiet for a few days, then back again. I don't think that's your problem. And redoing the heads is a lot easier than in in-car cam swap!

One last "mystery ticker" I have run into from time to time is a mechanical fuel pump on its way out.

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94 Firebird Formula M6- No options but Z rated tires. No mods over $10. 13.5@105.
79 Malibu "beater" w/junkyard 400 SBC, tweaked QJet 4bbl, finally a decent set of heads, a few other tricks. A maddening 13.000001 @ 108 on the motor with little traction. No nitrous runs with the new heads yet.
Grandma's old 78 Malibu (33K miles!) soon to have the powertrain from the 79 put in it.

"One of the last remaining QJet tuners on Planet Earth!"

[This message has been edited by Damon (edited December 17, 2000).]