Technical Update: Tick, tick tick ... only under rolling load.

Maybe, sprinkle some talcum powder on it, sometimes they will puff it back. But I do the rag over the tail pipe thing and you need a helper. I use an old towel (wet) and hold it for about 5 seconds while the helper looks for the leak.

 

I had a customer's car (OT '76 Z28) that I was aligning after it was fixed from a wreck. Sounded like an axle bearing chirp. I had the owner drive past me slow in a parking lot.. got a screw driver? Popped off the trim ring and that was it!

 

Update (9-18-18): Turns out the tick, ticl, tick was an exhaust noise. That got fixed which then revealed that it was drowning out the sound of the sound of some piston slap. Aint life fun?

Slap is not too noticeable but definitely there.

I had to take the truck to a mechanic to do this stuff because life got in the way of my doing it myself. Well I don't weld, so fixing the exhaust was going to get the truck to the shop anyhow.

 

Does the slap go away when it warms up? I had a '69 Chevy panel truck with a 307 that slapped cold, warmed up, not at all. And it went like a scalded dog.

 

My 442 had (HAD) electric cut outs in the exhaust system. I blew a head gasket which dumped a lot of steam down the pipes and warped the hell out of the gates. tick, tick, tick. The harder you pressed the pedal under load, the noisier the ticking. A sawsall fixed it permanently.

BTW and totally unrelated, I have a couple of slightly used electric exhaust gates for sale if you are interested.

 

It's pretty faint, but I didn't notice it going away when the engine warmed up. It seems like it does when I lift off the throttle. I'll have to listen closer next drive.