The motor in my sons car is making some vale train noise. I'm trying to narrow it down.

stock 1990 short block
GT40 heads

The guy I bought this car from absolutely had no idea what he had. Everything he's told me so far has turned out to be wrong. But not necessarily in a bad way.

He said it had a B-303 or E-303 he wasnt sure with 1.6 roller rockers.

Well I took off the valve covers this morning to see if the rockers or push rods were the source of the noise. No such luck. But what I did find was that the car has 1.72 SVO roller rockers in it. Nice rockers but with an E-303 wont this cause PTV issues on a stock 1990 shortblock? What abot with a B-303 cam? whats the limit guys? Do the 1.72 SVO rocker require specific pushrods? If they put stock pushrods in there could that be the source? Bent pushrods? Could the motor be quiet at start up until the lifters pump up and then because of the 1.72 rockers create PTV problems?

I fired this thing up this morning as it was perfectly quiet. Smooth idle, sounded good. But as soon as it warmed up there is a knocking or rattling noise. Not like a rod bearing,.. but possibly the thrust (plate or bearing?) for the cam. It sounds as if the cam is walking all over the place in there. Could a bad timing chain cause this also?

Either way I need to open up this motor to find the source of the noise,.. but open to idea's and what I should look for.

I was thinking the push rod might be bent or possibly the it has a collapsed lifter or two because of the cam and rockers. Anyone run this combo before. What should I look for?

Thanks guys.

Hurst

 

When i first started modding my car Jim. I had trickflow 2.02/1.60 with a crane 2043 (very similar) to a E. Running Scorpion 1.72 rockers. No PTV problems. Shaved heads 10 (melted valve seats) and still had no PTV problems. If i remember right the lift was around 540 +/- with the 1.72s and the Crane 2043. Try warming the car up, then adjust the valves and see how it does. Bent pushrod will make noise regardless of temp...

hell now that I think about it. Cliff (1fastang) has a F cam with 1.6s with no issues. His heads are 58cc ( milled a couple of times) the valves are completely unshrouded even. His car runs strong. No issues at all.

I would bet the valves are just adjusted incorrectly. Which means the car will probably make more power once they are right....

 

Thanks Corey, that eliminates that. My father inlaw is away on vacation and all his cars are stored in the shop so I didnt have room to get the car in there today. Started raining so I had to close the hood and run for my truck.

I'll go back over their tomorrow and see if adjusting the rockers quiets it down a little bit.


Hurst

 

Jim, every time I put any kind of roller rockers on a pedistal set up they make a shit load of noise, and yes I had proper preload..... One the 85 I was running the stock rockers and everything was nice and quiet, I put Ford Racing 1.6 rr on it and it sounded like shit..... Then I took them off and put the stock ones back on and it was nice and quite again, and to tell you the truth it ran exactly the same either way.....

 

I'm 90% sure its not the rockers Frank, But I will adjust and check them anyway just to eliminate them as a problem.

Over on N2S their saying it sounds like the bottom end. While that could be true,.. the sound I hear is if it were the bottom end would be as though every single wrist pin or rod bearing went out at the same time. And its really not that loud at all. Doesnt knock at idle and doesnt knock at above 3500 RPM.

I'm just guessing at the moment,.. but I can almost feel it through the distributor as if the cam were chewing up the drive gear. It sounds like the cam is walking all over in the motor. Possibly the thrust plate or cam bearings. I cant imagine the cam getting wiped with roller lifters but not ruling that out either.

I cant get the car in the shop until Weds when my father inlaw gets back. I hope this is something simple. I'll be pissed if I have to replace the short block.

Do you have any decent short blocks if I need one Frank?

Thanks,
Hurst

 

Just out of sheer curiosity and the only reason I ask is because I've never experienced this,.. but can a water pump going bad sound like a bad valve train?

Someone shoot me and put me out of my misery.

Hurst

 

Jim, I have virtually the same setup in my blue ragtop. 96 Explorer/GT40 crate motor, B cam, 93 Cobra 1.72 rockers. It has been setup this way since 1998. It has a very even valve train noise just like you are describing. I would bet that is where your noise is coming from.

.02 worth

Julian

 

Mine made noise with the RR and they were adjusted the same as the stock ones, but the stock ones made no noise at all.....

I have 3 blocks, 2 cranks and 1 set of pistons and rods..... That's all I have leaft and don't really want to sell any of it right now.....

 

piston rattle ?????

suxs to hear you try to do something nice and people suck....


did you drive it back from miami???

if so let it eat...whats the worst that could happen gonna need a short block either way...maybe????


Its a ford oil her and water her regularly it will come back for more

 

No trailered it back. If the car was for me it wouldnt be a problem. I'll let her eat and worry about the consequences later. This will be my son's 1st car. I need it to be reliable and safe. It runs pretty good right now (Other than this noise) and the idle hunts a little bit (Nothing a 650 carb wont fix if I cant figure it out). Not running hot, good oil pressure. Eats through 1st and 2nd and barks a little in 3rd. I'm a little baffled.

I'm more than likely going to tear it down weds when my father inlaw gets back,.. just for peace of mind. I heard the knock before I bought it. Its partly how we got it so cheap. But it was so subtle I assumed it was just the rockers. I didnt get a chance to check the adjustment on them today,.. garage is full of cars so I had to work outside. Started to rain so I packed it up. Yeah it would suck if it turns out to be rods or mains.

Do you or Shaun have any decent shortblocks if I need one? Trying to cover all my bases before hand.

Hurst