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I have a '72 F100 with a later r/b 400 installed and figured I'd probably get more replies here than elsewhere as it was originally unavailable for my year pickup.
I recently purchased the truck and it seemed to have have a ticking noise near the manifold area so today I removed the manifolds and installed new gaskets. While I was removing them I noticed that they were kinda loose so figured that would be it. I also had planned to remove the exhaust donuts but they looked to be stuck in the manifolds solid and were in good shape.
After all that work the noise still presists. Any ideas what else it could be? Possibly lifter noise? Any way to determine?
i think your problem is lifter noise (my 400 had the same problem) when mine had that problem i put in a new RV cam, a fresh set of lifters, and a roller chain timing set, but i havent got it all back together yet so i couldnt say how it works, but i bet if you put in a new set of lifters(or even just replace the ticking one) and clean up your oil gallerie a bit it would be fine( ive heard of lifters in 400s having lifter problems because of the way the oiling systems set up, but i dont know much about it). if your looking for more performance replacing the camshaft is somthing to consider because the stock cams suffocated the engine. try looking in the 351/400 cleveland engine forum someone in there might have more info