For those who like to skim, I'll bold the important stuff:


I've had a small knock for months now. The engine I bought had 80k on the bottom end and a known collapsed lifter. I thought I checked the lifters properly but I was wrong. But I re-used the lifters, and the rest of the top end is new.

Today I pulled the valve covers and wiggled everything and couldn't find any signs of a collapsed lifter just by pressure alone on the pushrod. I don't know the proper way of testing for a collapsed lifter, either still. But I didn't see any bad polylocks and the rocker arms were tight (1.6" aluminum r/r). I'm not experiencing any power loss or flat spots anywhere.

Funny thing, I don't have a functional oil pressure guage ever since my swap- never really bothered to check on it either. I don't know if it's just how I hooked up my fuel pump to it or what, but I just never cared until now.

Since the swap back in May I've put about 6k on my car, a lot of it being hard driving too. The sound has not gotten any louder or more consistent or anything, so I don't think it's a rod knock- but I definitely haven't ruled it out. I've had my friends take a listen and they can't tell what it is, but it sounds like it's coming from the passenger side.

I've had a rod knock before I blew up my 305, and this is much quieter than that- also that knock grew louder and louder until the bottom end exploded.


Any help short of telling me to pull the heads would be greatly appreciated. This is my only car and I drive it every single day. I work 40+ hours and attend class 24 per week.

 

i thought for sure i had a rod knocking but it was the dual pipes banging in the x member...

or it could even possibly be an exhaust leak.

fire it up and jam your head under the hood to try and narrow down the location of the knocking.

 

it's definitely not an exhaust leak... and I can physically feel it with my hand on the motor. It's passenger side, seems like it comes from the top.