Alright, well first off ill explain what i got in the car. its an 87 iroc 350 tpi. i recently blew the tranny and in turn the engine (ya it sucked) I swapped the engine with a rebuilt 4 bolt 350 replaced a lot of crap along with it cuz everything just decided to break when we put it back in. now its been running fine for a good while and little things have gone wrong but nothin big.

Now my problem: I've recently started hearing a ticking sound in the engine after it gets hot, its loud enough where i can hear it inside the car. now when i pop the hood and rev it, its get faster and then winds down really fast, almost sounds like a grinding on the downrev. I dont thinks its an exhaust leak because i had one before and i just replaced the exhaust gaskets and made sure the Y was nice and tight (the leak was originally coming from the Y and went away after tightening) Thing only thing that i've done differently recently is ive added some seal conditioner to my oil because ive noticed a small rear seal leak and just dont have the time to take the engine back out to change the seal. i dont believe its a headgasket either because im quite sure i put those in right. i adjusted my lifters after the swap and they were fine.

The only thing i can think of is that the seal conditioner may be messing with my lifters, ive read other boards where they talk about valve problems but im noticing no performance decrease whatsoever, just the noise. and again, its only after it heats up. any help would be much appreciated, and do you guys thinks its safe to drive like this for a while? my only set of wheels