Hoorah!! I'll bet a nice set of r.rockers ($320) would quiet it down. Everyone says mine sounds a bit dieselish. I don't remember how it sounds when I had the r.rockers on.

When I ran the Summit carb it had 67 primary jets and my engine loved it and did not run rich! I now have 58's in my 1848, and the carb is a step down in performance. My engine wants the flow of a 600 cfm. And with the ridges shrouding my valves, the lower lift of my cam, and my runners not being ported, I KNOW your engine wants to breathe more than mine. I know you don't want to hear it, but I think that to unleash that monster you need a carb with higher flowing primaries.

Sorry, I don't mean to tell you how to spend your money, ha ha. I'm very happy you're driving it.

PS. Ordered a LUK clutch. It seemed like a toy. I'm sending it back. I should have listened to you. What brand did you recommend? Sorry to hijack.

 

Yeah, I'm wondering if some roller rockers might be a future project. Maybe later this year after taking a breather from paying for the engine. Probably about $500 for the whole project with the R.R.s, different length push rods (if they change much), and the spacer for the valve cover.

I've checked the spark plugs a few times and there's barely any tan on them. I'm thinking the 57s are still a touch lean.

I'm thinking that if the 450 (or your 465) feels too small, the secondaries should be adjusted to open sooner to give it that air flow it needs. A smaller carb is going to give a lot better throttle response, and 450 cfm should be plenty for the 300 up to about 5000 RPMs! Fortunately, I do have a 600cfm Holley sitting in the garage that is tuned pretty nicely (at least for the stock engine). Maybe I'll play with them both.
The perk of the QF is being able to change the air bleeds and power valve restrictions. A bit more complicated, but so much tuneability.

I'm not super familiar with the LUK clutch, but I remember seeing pictures of them, and they looked like they were trying to use flashy looking stuff to try to sell stuff. It looked too colorful and techy. I'd rather it just work.
The one I got is a Sachs, and it seems to be really nice. It's what I had on it previously, too, and never had an issue with it.

 

On another note...

I'm getting a noise in the engine that I'm not liking. There's a squeal/chirp coming from what sounds to be the valve cover. It's very persistent, as in, it's there ALL the time. It doesn't come and go, it doesn't quiet down, it changes with engine RPMs, and is audible at all RPM ranges, etc.

I started by taking all of the belts off and running it for a few moments, but the sound was still there, so it's not a pulley.

My first fear, of course, was a lifter/cam lobe, so I pulled the valve cover and pushrod cover off last night. All 12 of the rockers were well covered in oil (I head read about someone getting the noise from a dry rocker arm).

Of course, my brain took the chirping sound and imagined it as the horrid visage of a bad lobe scraping metal off of the bottom of the lifter. So, I turned the engine over by hand and examined how far each lifter rose up above the bore with a feeler gauge. All 12 of them rose the exact same amount, so that definitely put me at ease. I would think that after 150 miles, if a lobe had gone bad, I would have been able to see some discernible difference in lifter height.



So, other than that, I have no idea what the sound is. Any ideas?

 

If you are getting a squeal/chirping on the top end, there are three places I can think of to check:

#1. Did you make sure to get hardened push rods? You need the hardened pushrods if you are running the head with push rod guide slots. I would pull a couple push rods out and check them for scrapes/scuffing/scratches.

#2. Check the cup end of the rocker arms to make sure they are getting enough oil from the push rods.

#3. Check the pivot ball area of the rockers. I'd also check the slots to see if the ends are hitting the studs. That won't cause your chirping but could be the ticking noise you've got ( if it's not the lifters ) .

 

Thanks for the ideas. This is kind of the area that I'm thinking it's coming from. It sounds very directly coming from the rocker arm/push rod area directly under the valve cover. Granted, sound can travel through an engine, but it seems pretty direct.

7 of the push rods are the stock replacement 10.080" (shortened) pushrods.
5 of them are from Trend Performance and cut to length. They have a 0.080" thick wall. They offered 0.105" thick, but those stop at 9.8" and the shortest I needed was 9.9".

Whether or not they're "hardened", I'm not sure. I'm not seeing anything on it.



I did pull them out recently (when I broke in the second set of lifters), and on the black ones (much easier to see than the silver ones) the ends of all of them were already silver and the sides had some scuffs. This was before the noise started so I didn't pay much attention to it and I just figured it was due to normal wear/tear taking the black finish off. Nothing looked galled or damaged, though.

These are the guide slots that I have.




There seems to be plenty of oil. When I spun up the oil pump with a drill, it came gushing out of all 12 rocker arms until it flowed over the sides. When I had the valve cover off last night, they were also well covered in oil when I looked them over. However, I didn't pull any of the rocker arms off and inspect them. I was more focused on the lifters at the time.

But, that doesn't mean they're getting sufficient oil. How would I tell though?

Same as above. I'll have to take the valve cover off again and pull the rocker arms to check this. As said, plenty of oil, but you never know.

Overall, the chirp sounds like it's coming from a single source, so if there's an issue, I think it's only with one of them. It sounds like it's one time per engine revolution.

As for the slot, I thought about this when it was first ticking and checked it. It'd make sense since the slot is designed with a much lower lobe lift than what I have. However, at full tilt, there was still about 1/8" of clearance at the end of the slot before it hit the stud.

Oh, and for what it's worth, I put a magnet in the oil under the valve cover and it was clean. No metal flakes of any kind as far as I could tell.

 

Going to pull the valve cover tonight and inspect the rockers/push rods.
Any info on what I should look for? The noise has not increased/decreased/subsided/etc.

Also, now (unlike when I first started started breaking it in) the oil pressure is getting pretty high while driving it. Idle is 50 - 60% on the gauge and driving is around 80%. On the L of NORMAL.

It's the same gauge I've had for the last few years, and it's always been fairly consistent, so this is concerning me.

 

Okay, here's a video of the sound.

Even with the valve cover off, I couldn't isolate where it was coming from.

 

It would take less than an hour to pull each rocker arm and push rod out, inspect them, and put back in with a correct valve adjustment. That would be easier than looking and guessing, and hopefully rule out or be able to fix any problem there.

Also, with the spark plugs out, turn the engine over with a ratchet and listen for any squeaks that way.

 

Wow, oil psi going up?! How is that possible? That defies physics. You need a adult oil psi gauge. Please don't get a SunPro. They work great for a year.

Mine sounds the same, and I only have .450 lift. I think it is cam/valve motion/rocker arm noise. I didn't notice it because I'd never heard mine run stock. But someone said it sounded diesely. I think it is simply a by-product or result of running oem rockers with high lift cam. They're not designed for the range of movement we're putting them through. And, btw, my buddy with that roadster with the black 300, his sounds the same, and he runs chebby oem rockers.

You have a great great engine.

 

While I had it running, I did listen with a vacuum hose to try to isolate where the sound was coming from. The sound seemed to be much louder from the #2 cylinder (couldn't tell if it was the intake or exhaust). Either way, I pulled both and inspected them. Nothing on the push rods aside from the normal band on the side where you can see where the head guides hold it in place. No shine or galling on the rocker arm.

However, one thing I did notice, and I don't know if this is it, but it almost looks like there's a "burn" area on the rocker arm (both had it). Maybe it's from the break-in lube not flushing it out and getting glazed? It was on there really well, and I couldn't scrape it off. I didn't want to get too heavy with it since I didn't have anything that wouldn't damage the mating surfaces.



You can really see the black on the ball on this one.





Would this cause it?

I didn't pull any of the spark plugs out, but when I turn the engine over, I don't hear anything at all.


From what I've read, oil pressure going up can mean a few things (all bad). The relief valve in the oil pump is not working correctly, an oil passage (like on a bearing) is plugged up with something, so it's more of a blockage/oil backing up issue, which can burn up an engine.



I know it's the stock gauge, but it's NEVER been that high before. When I first broke the engine in, and first 30 - 50 miles, it never went above half. So it should have actually gone down after things broke in and loosened up. Going up makes me nervous.

The video didn't capture the chirp as well as I would have liked, but it's still there. Ignore the valve train clatter. There's a sharp CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP sound that I can hear over the exhaust and valve train clacking (even while driving). You can hear it a lot better in the video when I bring the RPMs up. It definitely shouldn't be there!

However, I do agree about the stock rockers, and I might start saving up and collecting parts for some aftermarket rollers.

Thanks! Trying to get it there.

 

Slight update:

I took it to the machine shop and had my builder listen to it.

They definitely thought it was a weird sound, but they had no idea what it was.
So... I guess that's good and bad.
Bad in that we don't know what it is.
And good in that it's not one of the big issues that they're familiar with and something that means we have to tear it down.

But it's extremely annoying. I've gotten used to the rocker arm noise, but this CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP is driving me crazy. I can hear it over everything, especially from in the cab.

They actually thought there was some credence to the idea that the glazed on break-in lube was still on the rocker and ball, so I'm going to disassemble them all and try to gently get that stuff off with some scotch-brite or something. He then gave me some other engine grease/paste that he wants me to put on it before firing it back up.

If nothing else, even if it was just quiet for a minute, I could isolate it to the rocker arms. If it's not the rocker arms/valve train, then it's still coming from deeper in.

If it is the rockers, I think it might be time to start looking into upgrading them. I think that'd alleviate a few issues.

 

Take the chirpers and put them in another cylinder; like put them on #6 and do a operational test, then to #1 and see if the sound moves with them? It would at least rule out some things.

 

I have the spark plugs out so I can spin the engine over and listen.
Decided to do my first compression test:

1 - 160
2 - 160
3 - 165
4 - 155
5 - 168
6 - 160


Really nice numbers. Of course, I'd like them to be a tad more even, but I'm only around 250 miles on the engine, so it's got a bit more to go before it's fully broken in.

These numbers are also on a completely cold engine.

 

Okay, so I can hear the squeak when turning the engine over by hand. Definitely some friction somewhere, as I can feel it in the handle of the wrench as well as hear it. And it's repeatable as I can back the engine up and do it again.

I just can't tell where it's coming from.
Going to keep digging.

Who knows, maybe it's something as simple as a bad fuel pump.

 

Hope it's not a ring squeak on the lower compression cylinder.