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I have a completely rebuilt 454 that ticks like a solid lifter car and its really annoying!!
Here is what I've done
New lifters (turn in the bore great no slop)
New push rods
New rocker arms
New studs
New Fuel pump
New fuel pump rod
New exhaust, gaskets and torqued
The 049 Heads have the larger valves and had new valves and springs installed.
After all this the engine sounds exactly the same as before I replaced what were also new parts with the above new parts.
The tick is coming from the passenger side and varies with RPM any and all advice would be greatly appreciated.
I had a ticking @ the pass. side on a sb chevy years ago that after much searching turned out to be the fuel pump. I know you said you replaced that already, but I got rid of the noise using an aftermarket(Holley) pump.
What kind of rockers are you using? I had a set of the comp cam roller tip rockers that ticked. I know another person with the same problem. I switched to full roller rockers and the problem went away.
Is it possible that the tick you are chasing is a leaking/cracked exhaust manifold or header?
Steve
I'm thinking like Steve. I had an annoying lifter tick and it turned out to be a leaking exhaust flange. I had to true up the header flange and cut the flange almost through between each of the pipes. That sealed the header and stopped the annoying lifter tick.
You could also have a valve spring bouncing if the machine shop did not set your vavle height correctly . Some of them had to be shimmed . I had this happen to me and it drove me crazy trying to locate where the noise was coming from .
If not one of the above .... is it quiet the first few seconds when fired ?
It could be that the ID of the valve guide on one or more could be too tight . If so , the noise would be from the valve gently kissing the piston .
Was there any indication of such when it was tore down , was this looked for ?
Mountain, Yes exactly, for about 3 minutes its quiet then sounds like crap (sorry solid lifter guys) and probably wasnt even looked for. The question now is where to go from here? If the valve is kissing the piston do I need a total rebuild? can put stiffer springs in to compensate?
Have you checked the clearance on the valve covers...? I just installed a set of new alum bowtie covers and I noticed some ticking. I thought my valves needed re-adjusting. Turned out that the rockers were hitting the side of the valve covers. I had to grind the inside of the covers a bit and the noise went away.
Ironman,
Exactly what I thought just got inside from taking the cover off, everything seems to be in order. With the cover off this this valve train really Klacks a lot, not just one but all of them. Maybe with the larger valves this is just the way it is?
I was spoiled by my 69's motor SB 350/350 couldnt hear anything other than exhaust. The #2 exhaust valve doesnt seem to be traveling as far as the others though.
Maybe Nastee is right, XE cams are notorious about wiping lobes. Although mine is doing fine as well as a few others on the forum, alot of people have had them go bad.
If your #2 valve is wiping and causing slack it will make the rocker and lifter tick.
Only way I know how to check it is with a dial indicator, seems like I saw a post not too long ago about how to check it without one. Maybe someone will chime in that knows how