Ok, so out of curiousity.. since it has been sitting and I am being told to move it. I have a 88 Firebird Formula, I somehow blew out the current engine. I know I am not going to rebuild that one, looks like too much work for a used engine in the first place. The original was pulled out of it because it had a what I would like to say clicking noise opposed to knocking. It was loud enough we could hear it over the engine roaring, and was constant. In and out of gear. We tried replacing the water pump, my brother thought it might of been that, but it only got louder after that. What I am kind of curious about is what could it possibly be? Wasn't anywhere near as loud and painful sounding as this other engine I blew out a couple months ago (which I kind of had no choice coming back from an appointment they wouldnt let me cancel). And how much could I be looking at getting the original rebuilt?
Previous owner did the engine, so as far as I know it had a cam upgrade, aluminum heads, bored 60 over.. and I think even the owner before him had it kept at a fuel pressure of 42 psi which I was told is too much for it. It is still a very clean engine, looks brand spanking new as it was rebuilt about 40,000 miles before I got it.

 

if its bored .60 over its done if it needs to be bored to clean up the cylinders. is the noise coming from the top, bottom, front, back did it have any oil pressure issues did it run hot? if its coming from the bottom it would most likley be a bearing top it could be a lose rocker arm or a bad lifter, check the balancer to make sure its not the elastmer band or something as simple as a loose pulley if its the back it could be a cracked flywheel. hope this helps a little

 

well, its no longer in the car so its hard to say. From I what I remember I did drive it a ways over to my brothers, and I don't recall having any problems with it. I remember it started up just fine, and I don't recall it overheating at all. The guy that we were with said it sounded like it was a lifter or rocker arm. Which I forgot it also has roller rockers. As far as oil pressure, I've wondered about that. With the original and even the used engine, the oil seemed to be high on cold starts, but when the engine was warmed up, it could get as low as 15 with the used, and the original sometimes got a bit lower than that (this all being while it was in gear, both engines would have around 30 while actually driving).
Another thing, which probably what really caused it: Before I had left for vacation, I had just taken the car into a dealership to have them replace gaskets, I forget how far down into the engine, not too far. I picked it up and it drove very sluggish. It backfired a lot as well. Finally when I got done driving 1,000 miles... and yes I drove that far with it cause it was a vacation from the military, so I wasn't wasting a day. Anyways, the guy we were with looked it over for me, found vacuum lines not even plugged in, the oil pan was leaking cause it wasnt tightened down quite enough, and the timing was off by 22. We took it for a test drive afterwards, and the guy took it all the way up to 140 then backed off when he noticed it wasnt shifting anymore. That's when we started to hear the noise. So maybe a head gasket? I'm just hoping that maybe this engine won't be all that expensive to restore and put back in. I know it performed a lot better than the used one I have. Thanks for your time in providing any insight as I know this is a long post lol.

 

this might sound dumb but did you check for exhaust leaks at the manifolds???maybe cracked, leaking at the head, or collector.other thing it could be valves out of adjustment or rocker stud pulling out of head???

 

Not that I know of.. is there any way to check while the car isn't running? I know it did have an exhaust leak, that I didn't get repaired until a while after I got the used engine, though that was on the actual exhaust (a crack that got welded shut). I almost wonder if it may be worth trying to get the engine put back into the car, and try running it once to see if the problem still exist or might even be able to locate it that way.

 

Id pull the oil pan and check your mains and rod bearings for damage if your oil pressure was getting below 15 psi it could save you from spinning a bearing later. as far as checking for an exhaust leak with the engine out of the car look for a black carbon trail around the exhaust ports past where the gasket would have been.

 

Have you thought about it being just simple injector noise? They give off a clicking or tapping noise, especially cold. Some are louder than others.

 

i had it for a few months before this happened, and it never was never as loud as what this was. It could have possibly been the injectors gone bad, I believe up to a certain point I never did put 91+ grade fuel in it when it was recommended. So don't know if that would really cause the injectors to go bad or make noises.

 

Octane rating of the fuel shouldn't make a difference as far as injectors go, though I could see poor quality fuels causing problems? Have you tried running some fuel injector cleaner through the gas tank?

 

well i started using 91 and 93 octane after a while, which was before the engine started doing all of that. And the used engine I put in after it ended up in way worse condition. I may be having the engine taken to my dad's out of state and see if we can rebuild it. Atleast get in there and take a look at what is the real problem. Really hope it doesn't need bored anymore, theres just too much done to that engine to see it all go.