I had a ticking noise once and its cause was a cam bucket sleeve rotated slightly and whenever the engine speed changed, it move the cam forward, or backwards ever so slightly and the lobe hit the sleeve. My engine guy opened up the opening in the sleeve and then pinned all the sleeves to prevent rotation.
OK, thanks for the suggestion. I have to open the can cover again so I’ll look at the lobes to see if any nicks or wear.
This topic has been open for a while, and I wanted to wrap it up. I’ve gone down several rabbit holes since I opened this thread, the current one being a failed ring gear and the necessity to pull the engine again. With the engine now out and waiting for parts, I can hopefully close this one out.
Several suggestions above were tried, without resolution. Since the cylinder head was professionally done by a well respected local guy, I didn’t spend much time looking into the valve train or cams, other than change out the sprocket bolts for shorter heads, but that didn’t resolve the issue. Chain slop didn’t pan out, either.
In the course of troubleshooting I noticed that one of the header pipes was in contact with the frame at one point. My original collector had rusted out, but the headers were otherwise ok. Apparently you can’t buy just the collector piece in the US, so I bought an aftermarket one. Turns out the “Y” was too wide and forced one of the pipes up against the frame. I cut it, reduced the space between and welded it back together. Not a pretty weld, but functional. Gave me about 1/2” clearance to the frame— but it didn’t solve the noise.
After more research I read that as the inertia starter gets older, it doesn’t retract fully after the engine starts, and the end of the pinion gear can contact the ring gear and make a noise. I was getting ready to start the car and drive it up the ramps so I could pull the starter out. When I tried to start it, I heard a load crack and the starter just spun without engaging.
I thought the starter had gone so I pulled it out to have a look. Sure enough, my pinion gear was pretty chewed up, which may or may not have been the problem. Since the loud crack was the ring gear extricating itself from the clutches of the flywheel, I don’t know if the starter was the source of the clicking noise. But from the state of it, it seems plausible that was the issue from the start.
Hopefully when the engine goes back together, with a new ring gear and a new gear reduction starter, this problem will have gone away
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