BS Removed, Rebuilt Head on, LOUD Ticking...Help(Long)

[RossY]

Today i started my car for the first time in a long time. I destroyed my head awhile back and decided while the engine was down to remove the balance shafts also. Anyway, I removed the balance shafts, and put the rebuilt head on. BTW I picked this head up from a local junkyard who had it rebuilt for one of their customers who then backed out.

It was an N/T head so i swapped both cams due to the differences. I then put oil in it, primed it and started it. There was an unbelieveably LOUD ticking noise coming from what sounded like the head. I turned it off and took off the valve cover only to find that some of the cam caps were in the wrong place! I know it had to be the person who rebuilt it because i made sure that as the cam caps came off, they went right back on to where i took them off of.

So i put the caps in the correct positions and then started the car again and there is still a loud ticking that sounds pretty much like lifter tick. I used a mechanic stethoscope to try and figure out where exactly but I didn't really know what i was doing. I'm almost positive that the ticking is in the head though as the sound was more faint in the block.

So what do you guys think it could be? I drove it around thinking the lifters needed time to lubricate or something but that hasn't really helped. Performance wise the car seems to have timing getting pulled.

 

[RoasT BeeF]

Two things it could be. I have had both happen.

I have had the intake cam off by 1 tooth on 2 seperate occasions and the result was a very loud ticking sound. Sounded like a little diesel engine. Check and make sure all your timing marks line up.

Since you just put a 'rebuilt' head on, they probably bled down all the lifters. I have had this happen a couple times as well when getting a head back from the machine shop. The first time it happend I literally had to let my car idle for about 30-45 minutes before the ticking went away. The other time it took about 20-25 min before the lifters finally pumped up and stopped ticking. Didnt matter if I went out and drove the car at 5k for 15 minutes either, it would still tick.

The timing being pulled is more than likely knock from the loud ticking noise so dont worry about that until you get the tick taken care of.

 

[peregrine]

Since you just put a 'rebuilt' head on, they probably bled down all the lifters. I have had this happen a couple times as well when getting a head back from the machine shop. The first time it happend I literally had to let my car idle for about 30-45 minutes before the ticking went away. The other time it took about 20-25 min before the lifters finally pumped up and stopped ticking. Didnt matter if I went out and drove the car at 5k for 15 minutes either, it would still tick. .

i concur.

 

[RossY]

Well i probably had it idling for a good 10mins and drove for probably another 10. The ticking is still there but maybe its the problem. I checked the timing marks and they are lined up good so im hoping its just the lifters. Maybe ill try driving it around some more tommorow and see if that helps. Did you guys experience the slowed performance as well?

 

[RoasT BeeF]

Did you guys experience the slowed performance as well?

The ticking is probably causing knock which is pulling timing and making the car slow. Like I said, concentrate on getting the tick fixed first.

 

[RossY]

Just wanted to wrap this thread up and let you know what happened. I took the valve cover back off and took a close look and couldn't visually see anything out of the ordinary so i started feeling around on the lifters and pushing on them and i found that I was able to push down on several of them. So i popped off the rockers with a crow bar and pulled the lifters that were soft out and replaced them with some other ones i had.

I put everything back together and started her up and the ticking is gone. So it ended up being a few bad lifters that was causing the ticking.