Hey all, long story short I just bought a 84 camaro with a built 355. It ran great for the first 2-3 days but yesterday when I took it out for a cruise during a very spirited stretch of driving from the 2-3 upshift the engine bogged down then went back to normal, I slowed down and noticed I had a loud taping noise. Sounds like a lifter(s) going bad, mostly from the driver's head but some souns from the passenger side also. The power was still there on the drive home but so was the tapping.

Got home took of the valve covers and first thing I noticed was that the number #1 exh rocker arm was a little bit loose, tightened that up but it didn't fix the issue.

I could use an oil change as oil is nearly a year old and was a touch low when I bought it. Oil pressure is good, 25-70psi at normal engine temps.

Is there a surefire way to tell if it is the lifer's for sure without pulling them? Also what else could make this noise?

Not sure if it's related or not but the car won't idle worth a crap compared to what it did a few days ago, keeps stalling out when cold and even when warmed up will only idle at 550rpm with the occasional stall. Anyone think the owner might have been hiding something?, i'm pretty pissed at the moment seeing how I just bought this maro for $9000can and it already is having serious issues.

Any feedback is appreciated.

Matt.

P.S. This engine was built aout 5-6 years ago and has anywhere from 25,000-35,000km on it, also it uses comp cams 274 extreme energy cam and lifter kit with hydraulic flat tappet lifter's.

 

It may be a good idea to set lash on all the valves again. You may have one or more being held open.

 

sounds like a camshaft failure.

 

Well I took to to a high perf engine shop and after checking some stuff both guys agree it's a bad lifter plus at least that lobe on my camshaft is gone bad.

Just going to replace the cam and all the lifters with the same piece from comp cams, seems like a good match for the rest of the build.