Okay i installed an MSD adjustable timing control not to long ago but you need to reset the base timing once you install or the timing will be too retarded. So i set the base timing at 15 degrees. I know this is a lot but thats where the timing control comes in. It can advance the timing 15 degrees up to base timing so if i wanted to i can back it off to 0 degrees. Well i've been messing around with it finding that perfect timing with the help of my autoxray. The knock counts have been high during these test runs. Well now there's this slight ticking sound coming from the driver's side of engine that you can just hear when your cruising but it gets more audible when you get on it (its not detonation). THe idle is smooth, it doesn't feel like it has a miss, oil pressure is fine, and there's no smoke coming out the exhaust. SO I THINK and hope its an exhaust leak. Could it be anything else?

 

do you hear it when ur reving the engine with not load on it? is it as loud?

 

i have a knocking, not a ticking that was diagnosed by my genius friend as fuel line knock. i have a mechanical pump that sends knocks down the line and it increases with revs. you have an electric pump though, maybe it could happen.

 

An exhaust leak will be a ticking sound, faster as the rpms increase.

 

Well i compression-tested the entire bank of cylinders and all were at 150-155 psi. Also, the ticking sound would be there even if i gave it a little gas in park although when i listen closely it almost sounds like a slight metallic tick.

 

I recently had that same problem you are describing on my nova, and it got worse with time. It was the manifold collector gasket that had a pinhole at first and gradually got bigger until it was really obvious that there was an exhaust leak. It was driving me nuts because I couldn't find the leak so I thought it was a valve tick.