Technical 53 Chevy SBC 350 Ticking Noise - Bad Lifters?

Yea all good points. I guess what has turned me acrid was all the shoddy work I had to fix so far. I think my issue is not having driven the car enough to feel like I enjoyed and this whole process was worthwhile. Then I get those extremely brief moments where I drove it somewhere to do an errand and come back to walk up and see the car from a distance and then it feels amazing I have a custom car.

 

I have had that exact same experience with every car that I have ever bought built by someone else. As I evolve in experience it becomes even more difficult to accept somebody else's work even if it is relatively acceptable. It's not the way "I" would do it. Because of that, I buy solid cars that are a good foundation for my work and modify them.

I bought my avatar from a HAMB member last year planning full well to blow it apart and make it mine. I paid according to it's value as it sat. Experience has taught me what to look for and what to accept. This car was stupid solid and most of the mods were decent. The V8 swap was rushed, but that is easy to fix. The engine was tired... easy to fix. Thankfully the seller hid nothing, so that was a big plus. I enjoyed it last summer, and now I am making it mine.

If your car gives you that giddy feeling when you are approaching it then it is the right car. Make sure the bones are good and then slowly make it yours.

Sidebar: I think your car is damned good looking in the pictures. I would be proud to run it to the store.

 

Thanks for sharing your point of view that is a really great perspective! I do love the feeling I get walking from a distance seeing people staring at the car and then realizing it's actually mine, it almost feels like a dream sometimes. I just need to work on making those moments happen some more instead of the car sitting in my garage on jackstands so much.

 

My self imposed deadline to get my car off the stands was June 1. Luckily I didn't specify which year, because there's no chance that will happen. Life (work) has gotten in the way.

It's painful looking at them on stands during the summer. I tell myself that good wine takes time. Take your car a bite at a time... next thing you know it'll be just the way you want it.

 

Damn, this is like a good episode of Dr Phil, I feel better already!

 

Haha.. and even more to add..

Kurt Blownfuel is going to help me look at the car and to see if he has any cylinder heads to sell that would be a good match.

 

Out of curiosity, I looked up the 3947041 heads that I have and they are 64cc. Was that a good setup for my SBC 350 with dished pistons ignoring all the issues I encountered with the studs, push rod holes etc?

 

Yeah, 64 to 67cc chambers are pretty common small chamber heads, the only thing smaller I can think of us is the 58cc chambered 305 heads, and they have their own challenges.

 

Yea I see, I just want to be able to cruise around. Looking forward to getting your advice and knowing of possible cylinder heads you might have to sell when you have the time.

 

This is an interesting video! He says (at 10:41 in the vide) that the 041 heads which I have are actually one of the best for a 350 sbc for a street rod. They flow well, etc. The 305 heads will have flow issues (according to the video)

 

Yeah, that's partially what I mean by the have their own issues. Their also a later model casting, therefore thinner walled and tend to crack more, and some (not sure about all) have a funky extra (or more properly) relocated bolt in the exhaust. They were popular for a while in some classes that required factory casting heads, as they "could" be ported to some decent flow (not great, but decent), and the compression boost more than made up for the loss of flow. I wasn't recommending them for you, just mentioning they had the only smaller combustion chambers I was aware of. D@mn, that's probably more than I've EVER written about a 305 head in my life! Although, for what you're doing, almost any of these heads would have worked, until you found those dished pistons.......I DO have a spare 6-71 blower setup lying on shelf that would take care of that little problem (just kidding, I doubt VERY seriously those are forged dished pistons!). Anyway, back to the problem at hand, Watching the video also jogged my memory, the heads off my Vette were 882's, which really wouldn't be idea for you with dished pistons. Those World Products heads might work, but We would need to cc them and make sure they were the small chambered one's, then disassemble them and clean them up. There's one more set of mystery heads here that a Navy buddy left behind, I really don't know anything about them, they may be early headss because I seem to remember they didn't have bolt holes in the ends. Saturday's rapidly becoming a kinda busy day for me, but I'll be free and down that way between 1 and 3:30pm ish if that works for you? If not, Sunday's pretty open.

Kurt

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If anyone is curious here are some photos of the driver side head prior to taking it to the machine shop and having the #1 exhaust valve fixed. Even with the ticking noise, with that #1 exhaust fixed its a big difference in acceleration. It feels punchy enough for my needs but I have no comparison for what it could/should feel like.

 

The 305 heads will have flow issues in the very upper RPM ranges in high performance application (aka racing) on a 350. However, they will increase your low end and mid range average power. They do it exactly the way he explains the truck heads earlier. The great thing about 305 heads is they are dirt cheap

Listen to what he says,
"The 305 heads work fine on a stock engine with dished pistons."
That, my friend, is you with a cruiser/custom.

On your engine [with dished pistons]
and in your custom car, the 305 heads would be my 1st choice.

You'll be very impressed with the way it runs and it will be a lot peppier up to anout 4000 rpms- then after that it will fall on its face because it can't breathe. When was the last time your street cruiser got wrung out to 4000 RPM?

 

Thanks, that makes sense. So the 64cc is probably a little too much because I have the dished pistons? I would love to rev it up and make the glass packs sing every now and then when just sitting at a light.. but I'm not going to floor it or race it. I don't have a tachometer so I don't know what 4000 rpm or higher would sound or feel like but I'm going to look on youtube to see if I can find videos of people at those RPM and higher levels.

I texted the previous owner and he seems to remember 9 to 1 compression ratio according to the person that built the engine.

 

A tach will be the cheapest thing you will have bought yet.

 

Kurt (Blownfuel) came over today and helped me diagnose the ticking noise further. The ticking noise was exhaust related. He had to get underneath while running to better hear it. It came from the exhaust flange and or donut gasket where the pipe meets the exhaust manifold. This was replaced by the exhaust shop late October last year and I had driven it less than 100 miles since so I'm not sure what happened.

With time (when I am settled after my house sells or if I stay put) I will pull the heads and have them worked on to have threaded studs, guide plates, etc and then I'll get hardened push rods, new rocker arms, etc.

Thanks Kurt!

 

No more ticking noise.... for now!

 

So it was the exhaust the whole time?!?! I hate it when that happens! Oh well, hopefully getting the other issues fixed wasn't all for nothing :/ I tend to agree with some other guys in getting a crate engine when it's time. Run what you've got, start feeling better about it, then tear it's heart out and give it a new one! I don't know how comfortable you are with welding, but I felt the same horror on my first build, a 50 Styleline, when I found all the rust. I sold it to build my A, and then had to learn to weld. Once you do, you just look at rust and say "no whoop". Keep it, fix it, drive it!!! Old cars are constant work and hassle, much to my chagrin. But there's nothing else like it!

 

Thanks yes it was the exhaust. Kurt had helped me find it. I went to the exhaust shop yesterday and they welded a hole on the manifold shut but it still leaked. Turned out to also be leaking from the flange and pipe that the shop had fabricated and welded a while ago but I was able to get it to seal by making the flange smooth (it had weld beads making it not sit flush on the sealing surface).

I have a welder and will practice when I have time so that I can handle all the rust maintenance later on. I will run the motor I got for a while and grow further attached to the car now that I'm down to just a couple of current last issues.

Thanks for the encouragement.

 

High fives!

Glad you got it sorted out.

 

Glad you got your tick sorted out. I wasn't so lucky. My tick was a cracked flex plate. Apparently not unknown on the 400sbc. I wouldn't wish that on anybody.

 

great news!

 

Glad you got it sorted out. I loved that video....my truck has been on the lift for a week and some change and I was thinking about pushing it out onto the highway, but then I heard that thing running and made me remember how much I love the sound of a small block chevy......what mufflers are you running?

I just went through that too....not a 400 but it still sucked.

 

Thanks for all the advice and encouragement!

 

I have 22" Brockman mellowtone glasspacks just a bit in front of the rear end, 2 inch pipes, and chrome tips at the end and ram horn exhaust manifolds. I can take some photos of the setup if you want.

 

Same setup I have, except Smithy's 22" with ramshorns. Do you have a crossover pipe between the two sides? I dont and since they come out on either side of the truck it sounds like a v-twin at idle since I guess you only hear half of the motor running depending on wheich side you are on, ha...

 

Oh interesting, I don't have any crossover pipe between both sides.