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Am I screwed? Loud knocking

A hose in your ear is better at finding exhaust leaks than the stethoscope. Stethoscope better for internal stuff.
 
@Daniel Toro ...

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unplug one wire at a time...... if it's an exhaust leak, you will find it
 
Thank you all for your wisdom!

It was the exhaust gasket leak indeed.
Gasket replaced and everything is quiet as it can be again. Car is ready for a wedding next month!

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Thank you all for your wisdom!

It was the exhaust gasket leak indeed.
Gasket replaced and everything is quiet as it can be again. Car is ready for a wedding next month!

View attachment 1409156
Glad that's all it was, so no big thing :) If you wanna see some serious panic be at a drag strip when someones converter bolts come lose that REALLY sounds like a knock :)
 
Many, many years ago I had a couple convertor bolts come loose. But with my open headers, didn't really hear anything. Noticed it by manually turning the motor over. The bolts had "milled" a bit off the oil passage bosses on the block. I began using green Loctite on the TC bolts after that.
 
Loud noise coming from the engine. Though about lifters at first but it's quite loud under the engine also.
Tried a flush and oil change but nothing.
I'm very concerned now.
It's a 440 6 pack.

If driving the noise seems to ease a bit but it the rpm goes up it gets much worse.

I tried to make a video:


Thank you.

My buddy just had a similar noise coming from his 440, it ended up being carbon build up on top of the pistons. Removed the heads and cleaned and the noise is gone
 
When I changed over from HP exhaust manifolds to TTi headers, I knew I'd never go back, and sold the manifolds.
They used to blow out those Fel-Pro gaskets about every 6-9 months.
I haven't had one leak in 5+ years with the TTi headers, same cylinder heads as always.
The 421 in our GTO needed a rebuild, and I suspected it may from the day we test drove the car. I actually got a few thousand knocked off the price we had agreed on (Volo Museum).
In that case, it made a "rotational" metallic knock from around 2,400 to 4k RPMs, but what really made me pull the engine was the low oil pressure when hot at idle. It was so low I installed a mechanical oil pressure gauge and it agreed, less than 10# oil pressure when hot at idle.
It was a rod bearing, and 1 of the 2 halves was cracked in half! It is a true miracle that engine didn't throw a rod.
I'm glad your problem was the expected exhaust leak.
 
When I changed over from HP exhaust manifolds to TTi headers, I knew I'd never go back, and sold the manifolds.
They used to blow out those Fel-Pro gaskets about every 6-9 months.
Is there a Better alternative other than Fel-Pro ?
 
Remflex screen reinforced gasket. Remcharger's is a long term fix.
 
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Is there a Better alternative other than Fel-Pro ?
Yes bare manifold to head like factory. Can't blow out a gasket that doesn't exist.
Someone had suggested high temp (copper?) RTV but I never tried that.
I don't know if the surface plane of my exhaust manifolds was straight or not, but I don't have that problem anymore.
 
Yes bare manifold to head like factory. Can't blow out a gasket that doesn't exist.
Have you tried that with 50+ year old parts? I wouldn't hesitate doing that if both surfaces were freshly machined, but have never tried it with old stuff. I figure there's a reason they're included in gasket sets.

I personally have had good luck with the layered foil gaskets.
 
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