Here is the situation... I have a 97 vette, it is basically breathless stage 4 stroked 383, ported ls6 heads, ect, ect. The motor does not have many miles on it....about two weeks ago i began to hear a slight ticking/clicking on what seemed to be coming from the passenger side. I have done alot of reading and so far i have done the following to try and find the problem
-oil change mobil 1 10w30(there were no metal shaving in the oil or the filter at all)
-removed valve covers on both driver and passenger side looking for either loose rocker arms, or broken springs(i have dual valve springs)
-i went ahead and bought new spark plugs today and are replacing those tommorrow morning(ngk tr6 .035 gap-i am running nitrous however this motor has not been sprayed)
-pulled the dipstick to feel for air out of the oil dipstick tube(broken piston??) There was none.
Here are my questions, you can hear this ticking/clanking/clicking noise both on top of the motor and underneath the car, i have done some reading and i am aware that i have an exhaust leak on my passenger side header, i can feel a steady air flow on that side. As i increase throttle the sound also increases in pace, however remains a constant pitch at both idle and while driving, at any oil temperature.
-Could this be an exhaust leak?
-Could a broken spark plug be the problem
-Is there anyway to determine if it is a lifter without pulling the heads
-Is my car broken hahahaha

I am aware that heads and cam cars have valve noise but this is not normal, it hasnt always sounded like this.....any help or advise that could help me figure out this problem would be greatly appreciated by a fellow corvette owner
Thanks

And also later tonight i should have a few sound clips up so hopefully that can shed more light on the situation

 

If you can feel a puff of air with your hand that could certainly be causing enough noise.
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I would think you need to seal up the exhaust leak before you go further, or at least find a way to muffle it.
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If it's not valvetrain related and it's not the exhaust, you could have spun a main bearing.
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A bad lifter will not come up all the way and may actually be sitting lower that the others when on the cam heel.
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Did you check for bent pushrod/s when you had the valve covers off?
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Waiting on the vid for more input...

 

No metal in the oil is a very good sign. I'd take care of the exhaust problem pronto, and see if this helps. Also, that's a pretty tight gap for a car that's not sprayed regularly. I'd open it up to about .050, and use new plugs.

 

Here are some pretty horrible sound clips...maybe you can get some ideas

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NODAPhnKWMQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7M6LA4TdGk

Just for clarification, there is alot of backgorund noise from my exhaust(slp loudmouth, catless) so not all the noise is coming from the motor, but you can hear the clicking) this was taken on a camera phone

 

i looked at the pushrods, i couldnt see that any of them where bent, they all looked pretty straight, would if be fairly clear if they were bent???

 

You wont always be able to tell if they are bent slightly. The best way is to roll them on a piece of glass. I also agree to get a differnt gapped plug. N/A LS1 etc should have a gap of 60.

 

Thank you, my car is not n/a it is on juice(150 shot), i was just replacing the plugs...just to rule that out, i have not installed them yet as i will tommorrow, i was under the impression that .035 was the norm for spray, i dont use it on the street, just at the track as this car is already fast enough on the street

 

check the pushrods again and try to look at the inside spring.

 

I checked your vids and I agree, that IS a very bad - LOUD tick. However the quality was so bad I couldn't really make out what it might be. Try to get that exhaust leak fixed up so that isn't 'masking' the sound. It could be just that. Also, If you 'muffle' it, i.e. wrap it with something that won't burn, does it change.

 

New development today on the home front, took another look at the passenger side under the valve cover(rocker arms and springs) i found a piece of metal, its broken in half it seems, but would be about 10mm in diameter, im gonna try to attach pictures, what is this? bc i still cant seem to find anything broken, i guess i need to take the rocker arms off and take a look at the inside spring???

 

ok i found out where this little piece came from, a rocker arm on the inside of it, could the whole problem here be that my rocker arms are going sour, these are oem rocker arms mind you, here is two pretty crappy pictures of where the damage is.... in the second picture it is located to the immediate right of the bolt that holds the rocker arm to the pedestal, half of that is missing



Could this be the solution to my problems(oh god i hope so), also THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT...How loose is a loose rocker?? all of mine i can move in a side to side motion maybe 1 mm but cant move them up and down at all

 

That would defiantely cause the ticking. Replace out the rocker arm and you should be good to go.

Keith

 

Thanks everybody for your help, im gonna get some new rocker arms and see if that fixes it, if not ill be back with an update

 

http://nuclearworldwarsite.com/russia.html



hope that fixes it, but you should let us know the outcome good or bad.

 

sounds like you are well on your way to finding the problem. it's always nice to finally figure it out. on another note, get a new digital camera and it may not take as long.

 

camera phone man sorry hahahah