OK so I was just looking for a few directions before I go and yank this motor back apart. It's a freshly rebuilt '63 352 +.040 I had some rough times during the break-in and am now afraid that some or all may have led to internal damage. I had a lifter valley oil plug launch out, the intake gasket sprung a leak, and the carb and ignition just didn't want to play nice together. All of that has been fixed and is now fine. But now after I let the motor warm up and idle or drive a bit (45-60 minutes) I get a knock from the motor. It's not a deep knock like a main, but it's not the tap of a lifter either. It sounds more like a rod, to me anyway. It's not there when everything is cold, but once it heats up "poof" it's there. It makes no noise at idle, but starts around 1500 rpm and seems to stay. It sounds like it gets less intense as the RPMs increase. It's kind of a bear to get the oil pan off of the motor with it still in the truck so I haven't dropped it yet. I might try to get some video or just sound alone I know how personal "knocks" and "taps" are. Thanks

 

check your rocker arms make sure all is tight and not slopping around

 

What exactly would I be looking for on the rockers? And that makes an idea pop into my pea-brain. I put oil restrictors in the rocker feed holes last weekend, I figured that it might help as I'm pretty sure my rocker assemblies are a bit tired(I never spec'd them). Torqued them all down, and put new valve cover gaskets on. As I was tuning it shortly after that that's when the noise started. Could it be something in the rocker assembly that's noisy now that the restrictors are in?

 

OK so I got some video, but mostly for the audio. I'm not sure it'll help any. I'm pretty new to using the camera. I got two postings around 30 seconds each. In the first clip the noise starts around the 7s and 20s mark. I didn't check for all of that in the second clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8otlc4ibV8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tyLDkPGJJg

Hopefully this will help, but I'm not sure that the mic picks up well enough. I could here it, but I've been listening to it for a while so I know what I'm looking for, as it were. Also I just previewed the post sorry about the vids dropping in the thread. I thought it would just be a link.

 

Welp I've checked the whole upper end today and got zilch. I even ran it a bit with the valve covers off. Nothing stands out as being odd. Everything moves fine. No signs of a dropped cam lobe or bent push rod. So I guess next weekend I'll pick up the motor and drop the pan.

 

This may sound strange but have you checked out your pulleys for your water pump altenator and it looks like you have power steering might even be the power steeering pump it self. My 66 with a 390 did the same thing for a short bit after i bought it turned out the water pump bearings went out

 

Does it make more noise when you accelerate and completely/almost disappear when you let off?

The vids showing up as embedded players is normal now. They did a change to the site so that youtube videos show up that way. Perfectly normal

 

Krewat yup that sounds about right. At idle I don't hear a thing, but as soon as I start throttling up the knock comes on. It seems to lessen at higher RPMs, but stays. It's most intensive at around the 1k-1500 RPM range. Then when you let it drop back down to idle it goes away.

 

What's the oil pressure like?

 

Really couldn't hear too much over the whine; is that power steering ?

So I'll throw in a couple of wild guesses. Sometimes they help. Usually, not.

1. Exhaust(valvetrain) noise through the header.

2. Something to do with the type of oil as it's cold vs. hot.

That motor sounds great though, otherwise. Did you happen to build it ?


Good Luck

 

Oil pressure is good. It sits around 15psi @ 650-700 RPM hot and increases to 40-60psi depending on how much throttle you give. Cold idle pressure is around 60psi. I'm running Rotella 15w40 plus Lucas break in additive for 6.5qts total. Engine specs are:

1963 352 +.040"
Clevite RV cam
double roller timing chain set to 0*
rear sump pan, M57hv pump, #90 jets in rocker passages
single points dist., 8* base timing
Weiand dual plane intake, 1" open spacer, Holley 600 cfm e-choke

I built it and a machine shop that I deal with regularly do all the work. This has just been one of those pain in the butt builds. I really think the engine did not want to be resurrected. It's just fought every step of the way. But that's life, it was bound to happen sooner or later. Thanks for the input guys.

 

What are the odds that it was making this noise due to being fuel starved? As I was trying to listen to the motor with a stethoscope and it died. After a bit of checking I found that the tank was empty. With new tank, sender, gauge, and wiring 1/4 of a tank is empty.

 

Stethoscope or a long screwdriver will help. Listen at the valve cover and at the fuel pump. A bad fuel pump will really send you into a circle trying to isolate the sound....

 

I had a FE that had similar noise it was too much spark advance at certain RPMS. You might try pulling the vacuum advance hose off and trying it, check the mechanical advance for broken or weak springs or for too much travel. Also check the fuel pump for the noise -- pull it and run the engine.

Just Some Thoughts ---- Hotwrench

 

OK so thanks for all the ideas and info guys. I finally had a chance to do some diagnosing on the engine. I used a stethoscope and screwdriver all over the the engine block, heads, intake, valve covers, fuel pump just everywhere. I herd no knocks through any of it. I did find that I have a blown out collector gasket and a bad header flange gasket. So that's some of the noise. Next I got to watch the timing marks under revs(I had to find a helper). So I've got it set to 10*(I moved it from the earlier post) base time. With the vacuum advance unhooked I get about 35* total advance. With the vacuum hooked up I get a lot. On a snap throttle rev it'll wind up past the 60* mark. On a slow controlled up throttle I pushed it to 55* then backed off. The knocking noise I was trying to describe shows up at around the 44-46* area and stays for the rest of the rev. From what I was reading on here it sounds like 40-44* of total advance should be all I get. The vacuum advance is new and still holds vacuum, but it's just a stock replacement and not adjustable. This sounds more like weak distributor springs from past experiences, but I haven't checked yet are there springs in this unit? Does it sound like I'm on the right track or should I backup and regroup?