[1320King]

I have a stock 350/350 engine and trans combo with stock exhaust manifolds in a 74Nova that I am getting ready to pull and then install in my 69 Camaro.

I notice that the engine has a ticking noise coming from it.
How do I determine where the noise is coming from?
Is it coming from the lifters? Is it an exhaust leak? Rocker arms?

To my knowledge it looks like the engine has never been apart.

[dawg]

take a rag and cover each exhaust manifold port coming out of the head.
youll hear the noise go away once you covered the exhaust leak.
or you could have a bad lifter
or you could use a good valve train adjustment

[SPARKY69]

Bring it to an exhaust shop if you dont have a stethascope,to rule out a exhaust leak..

[1320King]

Originally Posted by dawg

take a rag and cover each exhaust manifold port coming out of the head.
youll hear the noise go away once you covered the exhaust leak.
or you could have a bad lifter
or you could use a good valve train adjustment

This is my first chevy and I didnt know your basic small blocks had adjustable valve trains?

Or are you saying that since this engine has probably not been apart since new that the valve train is loose and needs to be adjusted just because of wear?

[68RS-SS]

Odds are that it's an exhaust leak so check that first. Easy to fix and may just need tightened. If not then could be a valve/rocker assembly needing adjusted.

Possibly could be a flat cam lobe and adjusting won't help but let's hope that isn't it for now.

[X33D80]

It could be a spark plug wire arching to the header. I had that happen one time and chased the tick all over the place, once I replaced the wires the tick went away.

[rojo]

Yeah I had the same problem as Andrew, fired it up at night in the garage with the lights out and you could see it very easy. I also had a fuel pump rod that liked to tick when the engine got warm, it actually took changing the pump rather than the rod to fix that one.

[RichSchmidt]

You can find an out of adjustment lifter on a hydraulic cammed engine by running the engine with the cover off,put a rag in the palm of your hand and push down on the pushrod side of each rocker one at a time.If one of the rockers stops the click you either need to adjust that rocker,or there is something amiss on that valve.