Clicking In The Engine

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Sick_Six225

Sick_Six225

72 Dodge Dart Swinger
Joined
May 14, 2013
Messages
142
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Location
Clarksville TN
1972 Dodge Dart, 225, 3.7, 2BBL Holly, Mild Cam (Unknown Brand), Long Tube headers, Electronic Dist,

Question what I have is It sounds like a little clicking noice under the valve cover. does something need to be adjusted? Something that I can do? Also car drives great, starts great no problems just wondering about the noice because you can hear it when I have the hood open. Thanks Everyone!
 
sounds like a valve is getting a little loose. time to order a cork gasket and run the valves.
 
Hey 805, What do you mean by run the valves? I am learning a lot by working on the Dart but sad to say have no friends out here so I would be doing this on my own.
 
Sick_Six225 said:
Hey 805, What do you mean by run the valves? I am learning a lot by working on the Dart but sad to say have no friends out here so I would be doing this on my own.
Click to expand...

run the valves, adjust the valves, lash the valves.

how much cam is in it? little lope, no lope, stock lope
 
805moparkid, So this is something I could do pretty easy with a little reading up on adjusting valves? Is there a special tool that I will need to complete this job? Thanks Again
 
feeler gauge, 3/8 open end wrench, 7/16 on medium/long xtension with ratchet.

but yes look up and watch video's on it.
 
A little info for a newbie. Your slant has "solid lifters". Those require regular adjustment, at least every 40K mi. A slight ticking sound is normal. People call that the "sewing machine sound" of a well-running slant. In the 80's, slants changed to "hydraulic lifters", which never need adjusting. Most cars today are hydraulic. Solid is not necessarily bad, and is actually preferred for race car engines. My 80's Mercedes' have solid lifters.

BTW, the slant six is considered by many to be one of the best, most reliable engines ever made. That really refers to the block and crankshaft. The carburetor and ignition can cause continual frustration, unless you repair or upgrade. The heads and manifolds are not good for high air flow, unless you add a turbo, in which case a few have realized 11 sec qtr miles.
 
Just a thought because it boggled me for a bit on my 318. If your valve covers have baffles built into them it is possible the lifters are hitting the baffles.

I went through setting all the lash and back and forth never thinking of valve cover clearance issues - by the time I figured it out some of the tabs were broken off of the baffles so I just completed the removal - since then no clicking.

Bryan.
 
BillGrissom & Canuck Bryan, Thank you so much for your help and information. I am going to try to tackle this pretty soon and see what I can do or what needs to be done.
 
Yes thanks for explaining the NEED to adjust valves on solid-lifter engines. Sometimes it's easy to forget that not everyone automatically knows why things like that are required.

Now the OP knows that with solid lifters there always needs to be some clearance in the valvetrain and his responsibility is to ensure it has the correct amount.

To add:

Too MUCH clearance won't really hurt the engine, but noise goes up and performance goes down slightly since the valves aren't opening as far as they should.

Too LITTLE valve clearance can be bad, bad news if allowed to remain that way for a while. Valves, especially the exhaust valves, are subjected to intense heat. They shed part of that heat each time they close and rest flat on the valve seat.

When the valves are too "tight", not only do you get a slight miss because part of the combustion pressure is escaping past the valve(s), but the scorching hot gases can start to wear away at the valve itself and before long you end up with a chunk out of the valve face.

When that happens, you have a "burned valve". Compression in that cylinder goes to 0 because the valve is no longer capable of sealing. The head has to come off and a new valve installed. Plus normally a full valve job, so...

If you own a Slant six before they went to the hydraulic lifters, keep the valves adjusted regularly.
 
Canuck Bryan said:
Just a thought because it boggled me for a bit on my 318. If your valve covers have baffles built into them it is possible the lifters are hitting the baffles.

I went through setting all the lash and back and forth never thinking of valve cover clearance issues - by the time I figured it out some of the tabs were broken off of the baffles so I just completed the removal - since then no clicking.

Bryan.
Click to expand...

these slants dont even have .430 valve lift and the stock adjusters are very short. with my long hemi adjusters and .475 lift i hit the cover slightly.
 
Here is a video I took today of the sound from my engine.

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That sure is a purty engine, except upside-down in the video. I didn't hear anything abnormal, maybe just a slight ticking. I wouldn't worry about it too much for now. Read up on the best gasket to buy before you remove the valve cover to adjust the valves.
 
Thanks BillGrissom, I have no idea why the video came out upside-down when I moved it from my phone to photo bucket. Thank you for taking the time to listen to it and thank you for the input. I sure will look up the best gasket prior to knocking out this job.
 
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