New cam in 318, ticking sound

[volvo 4 life]

I picked up a 318 for a good deal to replace the worn out 318 in my 73 charger. The engine had a 340 cam in it supposedly but it looked a bit flat so I removed it and installed a summit cam with .454 lift along with new lifters, timing set, and standard volume oil pump. I coated the cam and lifter faces generously with assembly lube, I used 2 packets of it and there wasn't a dry spot anywhere. I bought Lucas 30 weight break in oil and filled the carb with fuel and it cranked probably 10 times before it started because one of the coil wires was corroded and has a bad connection. Once it started I ran it for 20 minutes between 1,500 and 2,500 rpm and didn't let it idle at all until it was done. I changed the oil with 10w30 valvoline vr1 and it seemed great but after about 70 miles it has a tick on the passenger side and it's getting louder. I pulled the clave cover and tried pressing down on the rockers to see if one of the lifters was collapsed but they all seem tight. I'm starting to get worried that I wiped a lobe but I don't see how. Any thoughts about what might be wrong? Thanks and sorry for the long post, wanted to be thorough.

 

[Jcharger]

Sounds like the lifters are OK. I was going to suggest that if you have the original stamped rocker arms to check for wear on the rocker arms by seeing if the pushrods spin when the lifter is on the base circle. The idea being that they might work/sound fine with the milder cam, but then make noise with the new one. It sounds like you have done that, and the fact that the sound is worsening does not sound good. I have not experienced a worn lobe yet, so don't know how ticking manifests with them. I suppose it means the base circle has to be worn? Since you have the ticking location identified (or roughly identified), maybe try a cam lobe checking tool to check for candidate worn lobes? It would save pulling the cam out to check.

 

[747mopar]

Check for an exhaust leak at the manifold, they sound the same. When checking the lifters bring the lifter to the bottom if it's stroke before checking for play. There's been a lot of lifter problems lately so make sure you check them well.

 

[volvo 4 life]

I've checked for manifold leaks and its sealed up good, plus it makes noise when I'm off the throttle coasting. I marked all the pushrods on the side that's making noise and every one of them is spinning, some really slow and some really fast but they're all moving. The rocker that seems to be making noise feels right when it's all bolted down so it doesn't seem like the lifters are bleeding down. I noticed when I put the rockers on that they have a lot of play on the shaft but I don't know how much they're supposed to have. Are they supposed to be fairly tight? The rockers seem loose on all three engines that I have so I figured it was normal for la engines.

 

[Jcharger]

How did you identify the rocker that is making noise? When I had this issue, I put a metal rod (maybe a screwdriver) against my skull just in front of my ear and then touched it to the valve cover, that helped. Then I ran it a little with the valve cover off, but recall I had to do something about oil. I seem to remember that the noisy ones I had spun a lot more and had some give to them when on the base circle. I had a B not and LA, but my guess is the stamped rockers and behavior should be similar. I bought a few (I think 6) stamped rockers from Mancini (They did not have more in stock at the time) and replaced the ones I suspected were an issue and the ticking cleared up. In my case, the ticking showed up after a swap to a more aggressive cam, so that is why I made the suggestion I did. Someone else may have a better suggestion. (I also had exhaust leak and localized that using the hose from a shop vac.)

 

[volvo 4 life]

I took the valve cover off and put my ear next to the rocker arms while it was running and I seemed to have narrowed it down to the number 4 intake rocker arm. It's loudest right above it. I may try swapping the rocker shaft with one from the engine that I took out of the car, it couldn't hurt I guess. Does anyone know how much play the rocker arms are supposed to have on the shaft? They don't seem to fit very well at all, they're very loose.

 

[Jcharger]

Unfortunately, I do not know how much play they should have, but assume someone else will be able to give an answer. What I put down is the extent of my knowledge and experience with issues like this. My understanding of the geometry is that the play would develop because of the rocker arms wearing rather than the rocker arm shaft, but I could be wrong on that.

 

[volvo 4 life]

Yeah the shaft looks fine. I'll swap the shafts tomorrow and see if it changes. Since the pushrods are all turning that pretty much gets rid of the possibility of a wiped cam correct?