340 lifter noise

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dgoplen

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any ideas,ive been trying to figure this out since about xmas,i put in new headgaskets on my 68 340 .i got the felpro 8553 ones.after starting it up it has terrible lifter noise ticking.the rockers seemed loose so i bought a pushrod checker and it said about 7.53 so i found some 7.550 and put them in and it still sounded bad.so i bought some of the mopar .024 head gaskets with the stock pushrods and finally got it started tonight and it seems worse but now the rockers all seem tight .what else can make the lifter noise? they never got removed from the bores when it was apart the valves all open and close but ive about had it.did something happen by sitting for a few months ,i see oil on the rocker shafts ,the notch is down and front on driver side and rear and down on pass side.there is 60 psi on my gauge .this engine was quiet until i pulled the heads off.
thks for any help scott
 
I don't think he has adjustable rockers and instead of going on here or ebay and finding some he swap head gaskets to move the head closer to the block.

Gee if I did all that work i would had also put new in new lifters--if not a camshaft.

Sure its not an exhaust leak, headers for sure can make sounds that seems like metal is knocking?

Could be a bad/dirty lifter, they do get dirty and sticky, marvel mystery oil is good to mix with the engine oil to free the lifters up
 
i have the stock valve train which is what it had before i tore it apart,i was sure the felpro thick gaskets were the cause,which is why i put int he thin mopar.025 gaskets.its a hard lifter noise and it doesnt sound like one either.i think its hard to believe a cam could be bad from just sitting ,or the lifters ,i dumped oil all over them before i put the inatke on last night.and after i shut the engine off there doesnt seem to be any play in the lifter pushrod area.
 
dgoplen said:
i have the stock valve train which is what it had before i tore it apart,i was sure the felpro thick gaskets were the cause,which is why i put int he thin mopar.025 gaskets.its a hard lifter noise and it doesnt sound like one either.i think its hard to believe a cam could be bad from just sitting ,or the lifters ,i dumped oil all over them before i put the inatke on last night.and after i shut the engine off there doesnt seem to be any play in the lifter pushrod area.
Click to expand...

Removed. I can't read.
 
should the lifters all drain out after sitting a while or stay full?why would they make noise? to much clearance some where? or junk in the lifters? tks
 
It's not uncommon for lifters to drain down after sitting. Sometimes it takes a few minutes for them to pump back up if it sat several months. How long did you let it run?

BTW: did you actually ever measure the lifter preload? If you didn't you still may not have enough preload.
 
i still have the other pushrods that are 7.550 should i try it with these?is the preload the distance that the plunger actually moves down from the top? it should be in the .030 -.040 range when the cam is on the flat side of the lobe right?
its just that i wish i would have kept the original head gaskets that i took out and through away without measuring,i gues they could have machined the block somewhat and thats messing me up but i dont believe there are any gaskets thinner than the .024-.028 mopar ones are there.
 
dgoplen said:
i still have the other pushrods that are 7.550 should i try it with these?is the preload the distance that the plunger actually moves down from the top? it should be in the .030 -.040 range when the cam is on the flat side of the lobe right?
its just that i wish i would have kept the original head gaskets that i took out and through away without measuring,i gues they could have machined the block somewhat and thats messing me up but i dont believe there are any gaskets thinner than the .024-.028 mopar ones are there.
Click to expand...

It would be much better if you just measured the amount of preload to see what you have instead of parts swapping (guessing), but as long as your sure the longer ones won't bottom out the lifter you can try them.

BTW: when a block is decked it brings the heads closer to the cam so shorter pushrods or thicker head gaskets would be needed. That's the opposite of your problem.
 
dgoplen said:
should the lifters all drain out after sitting a while or stay full?why would they make noise? to much clearance some where? or junk in the lifters? tks
Click to expand...

The only way that a lifter will drain out is if there is pressure on the plunger for a period of time. This could be caused by an open valve when the engine is off. The pressure from the open valve spring may make it bleed down. A lifter just sitting with no pressure on the plunger (valve closed) should not bleed down. In many cases if the lifter does bleed down, it will "pump itself back up" when you run the engine for a while.

The standard hydraulic lifter should not be affected by changing head gaskets for the standard stamped steel rockers and going from stock to Fel Pro thick gaskets. I have done it many times.

Do you have adjustable rocker arms or the standard stamped steel stock type?

Have you checked for an exhaust leak? If you pulled the heads, maybe you have a leak at the head/exhaust manifold or header flange face. It can sound just like a collapsed lifter. Put some dish soap mixed with water (Dawn/Palmolive liquid etc) into a spray bottle and spray it on the whole exhaust face where the heads and exhaust manifolds meet and run the engine and look for bubbles. That would indicate an exhaust leak.

You may have a loose or missing piece of your rocker gear, pull the valve cover and double check that all the rocker arms and any spacers are in the correct location.

Is it possible you may have gotten a piece of dirt stuck in one of the lifters when you took everything apart?

You have good oil pressure at 60 lbs. check to make sure that the rocker shafts are not installed upside down. There are oil holes on the bottom of the shaft. If the shaft is upside down, it will shut off/block the oil getting to the rocker arms. The side with the holes goes down, and the side without the holes goes up.

Also, could you have misinstalled the head gasket? there is an oil passage from the block to the head that feeds oil to the rocker arms. An upside down or backwards head gasket will block off that hole and not let oil get to the rockers?

Run the engine and use your longest screw driver with the tip down and put your ear to the handle (or close to it) and use it as a stethiscope. Try to isolate where the noise is coming from. See if you can pin it down to a particular cylinder and intake or exhaust lifter if possible.

Hopefully one of these will help you find the source of the noise. these things are the first to pop in my mind. Good luck.
 
I had the same problem with a noisey lifter in my 340 and one of my rocker arms was extremely sloppy with the push rod almost coming out of the rocker arm pocket.Once the engine warmed up the noise subsided then the unimaginable happened, a intake valve spring broke and this was for the same rocker arm and lifter that I just mentioned. I replaced the valve spring and now all is good, no more lifter noise and the pushrod is staying in the rocker arm pocket so I would check you springs before you do anything else and this may be your problem..
 
fishy68 said:
It would be much better if you just measured the amount of preload to see what you have instead of parts swapping (guessing), but as long as your sure the longer ones won't bottom out the lifter you can try them.

BTW: when a block is decked it brings the heads closer to the cam so shorter pushrods or thicker head gaskets would be needed. That's the opposite of your problem.
Click to expand...
Agreed! Thinner gaskets or a decked block will give you more preload not less.
 
after 5 monthes of this i finally fixed it. when i removed the original head gaskets i never measured them before tossing them.I assumed stock style gaskets should work .mistake 2.assuming felpro would make a stock thickness gasket for a stock kit, mistake 3, assuming anything at all mistake 4.
after i put in the 8553 gasket ,i bought new pushrods after measuring it seemed 7.550 should work,but it was still noisy.so i debated buying a new cam and lifters or adjustable rockers but i was sick of guessing,so i ordered a set of the .025 mopar head gaskets and put the stock pushrods back in,it measured up but was still noisy running,so i put the 7.550 pishrods in and the noise went away.so i dont know what was in for gaskets before but i ended up using 4 different intake gassskets and about 4 gallons of vr1 oil and 4 filters,2 sets head gaskets ,3 header gaskets and valve cover gaskets. is there such a thin head gasket out there that may have been in my motor to cause this?
tks scott
 
I'm not sure what thickness the stock gaskets were but I'm sure they weren't thinner than .024". Glad to hear you got it fixed.
 
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