I need some help figuring out what is causing what seems to be valve train noise in a fresh motor. The motor is a 355 with 4 valve relief flat top Hyperuectic pistons, stock rods, stock crank, lunati Bracket Master II cam, world sportsman heads and a performer rpm intake. All of the parts in the motor(cam, heads, rotating assembly) are used parts so keep that in mind.

The cam's part number is 0012 which I think is Lunati's biggest BM II hydraulic. The specs are .515/.515 and I think 246 @ .050 on 108.

When I first fired the motor last week it fired the first try and set the idle at 2500 and let it run for about 15 minutes. It was open exhaust at that point so I did not hear the noise I am asking about. After putting exhaust on the car I noticed what I would call valve train noise. It is somewhere between a pecking or ticking and a tapping that follows rpm. It is not a knock and it is in the top side of the motor. My first try to fix it was to replace the cheapy proform roller rockers with a set of 'known to be good' crane energizer rockers. I did that because the proforms seemed to have excessive lateral play or clearance on the stud. Swapping the rockers did not lessen the sound. The next and last thing I tried was tighten all the rockers another 1/2 turn(was a 1/2 turn past zero lash to begin with). This also did not lessen the noise.

I am at a loss. Is a bigger flat hydraulic cam supposed to make noise? What should I look into next? My guess is try swapping out lifters.

STOP, cut the filter open and see if there is loads of ferric material (can be picked up with a magnet) If so a cam lobe went away. Might take a look at all the 'break in' cam break in, break-in oils stickys on this site and around the net. Hope it's not the dreaded flat lobe, but sure sounds like it.

I pretty sure it is not a flat lobe. The car runs and pulls good. It does not miss. I have driven about 10 miles so far.

Happend to me once, i think it was a lifter, it eventually stopped ticking.

strange.

check for vacuum leaks? tighten all your bolts? Intake, carb, headers, etc.. Sure your oil level is correct?
check your filter for sure like marv said..
you said all the parts were used, maybe you got a stuck lifter?

Look for a rocker that is oput of adjustment(loose). If one is, and it keeps getting loose after you tighten it, that lobe is on its way out...
I hope its just a noisy lifter...
Good luck
Hulk

check for vacuum leaks? tighten all your bolts? Intake, carb, headers, etc.. Sure your oil level is correct?
check your filter for sure like marv said..
you said all the parts were used, maybe you got a stuck lifter?

Header bolts is where I'd look first. A header gasket leak sounds just like a valve tap.

Header bolts is where I'd look first. A header gasket leak sounds just like a valve tap.
The header bolts are all snug. I have heard header flange leaks before and this is not that situation. The sound is a metallic tapping.

None of the rockers have been loose when I checked and I have had the valve covers off quite a few times already.

I am going to try yanking the valve cover and adjusting them with the engine running, though I am not optimistic. I figure if it is an adjustment problem or a cam lobe problem, the rockers would be loose when I run through them and they have not been every time I checked.

Header bolts is where I'd look first. A header gasket leak sounds just like a valve tap.
+1 first fire up on mine and thought I had a problem and it was just a small header leak...Me and the engine builder( my bro) both thought it was a tic!!!

May sound stupid but,did you check for proper valve cover clearence,you may have a rocker that is hitting the valve cover? Or it could be as others said bad lobe: that would SUCK!!! I had that happen to my cam durring break in..my buddy over tightened the # 7 exuaste rocker:mad: & ruined my cam. It could be a bad lifter also,becuase as you said the items were used...
Good luck & I hope it works out for yah..

I found 4 lifters that were bleeding down. I could push them down with very little force, but the rest of them were solid. I wend ahead and replaced all the lifters yesterday with new ones. I think it still making noise, I ran out of time to get it really warmed up and idling, but it did run enough to hear the noise. I am going to try to get some audio/video of it to help everyone hear what I am hearing.

I recorded the sound on a digital recorder:

http://webpages.charter.net/dbordel/...rain_noise.WMA

check to make sure the rockers are hitting the valve stem completely and not the retainers, what diameter are your springs? I had to step up to .100 pushrods once due to a ticking noise that took me 6mos to figure out and I was running a flattop 350 with that same cam, camel humps and 1.43 springs. Take a good look to make sure the rocker is clearing the retainer.

I had this same cam in my 355 in my nova when I bought it. It was a good cam never any noise and it had all stock stamped rockers. But I would check what Marv mentioned. But the cam is a good streetable cam. I had the same pistons and a set of 041 heads with the 515/515 cam and same intake with a BTE converter 3400-3800 in my little nova it would run 12.80's. When you get it worked out It should run good.

I got caught on this one... As I pulled out the intake bolts, I put 'em all in a tray not noticing if they were all the same length.. After I did what I had to do, I put the intake back on, and, of course the middle 4 bolts which are shorter than the others did not end up where they were supposed to go... As I adjusted the valves the longer bolts now in the middle 4 intake bolt holes would not let me adjust properly the valves as the longer bolts were butting on the pushrods... Just an idea mate!!!