I just got the flathead in ny model A fired up for the first time. Its a 51 merc, with 59AB Edmunds heads, and an Offy super dual and 97's. I got the timing close, and it runs smooth, but its got a tick, tick,tick on the driver side. Its really hard to tell where its coming from with open headers, but its noisy. When I put the heads on there was real little clearance from piston to head after the heads were trued up, but they did not hit when turned over by hand. It really sounds like a lifter tick, but im not sure to go about checking this. This is my first flathead, I ve always had overhead motors, and usually adjusted the valve lash by ear with the motor running. Id like to cross out the possibility of valve tick, before I pull the head off and make sure the piston isnt hitting. Any advice on how to do this???
I had the same problem. I used an Isky Max I, 3/4 cam and some adjustable lifters that were touted to be Isky, that I got from Hot Rod and Custom Supply, when they were still in Florida under a different owner. The lifters were fake Isky and were made of soft metal and ate up the new cam and themselves right away. Instant (almost) loud ticking noise! Pull your intake manifold and investigate; recheck all of the lifter clearances; they should be about .014 for the Max I. The new owner of HR&CS refused to make my losses good. Just a parts seller and money guy, not a real hot rodder or mechanic. A lesson learned. The former owner (Tony) actually cut out the original label on the box of lifters with a razor blade, and wrote the Isky part number on the box with a sharpie. I contacted Isky who told me that they didn't even sell lifters to this clown. This mess damn near ruined my totally new flathead! I'm sure that you know the amount of work and money it takes to change out a cam and lifters on a flathead! pigpen
It's most likely a lifter--not unusual in flatheads with adjustable lifters. Just turn the radio up and drive it.
If you can hear it over the headers you probably need to check it out. I'd pull the manifold first and check out the valve clearances. Next time you have heads off it wouln't hurt to check valve clearance with clay. Especially if it has any aftermarket stuff.
We just finished a 8RT, 2 new seats and a bunch of grinding on all valves. Has solids and when consulting the book it said .018 for exhaust when all was done I looked at the whole chart and it is normally a whole lot less, just that for the truck. So it sounds like **** as I carefully made all exhaust just that, rattle rattle.. We ain't taking it apart to fix it, at least not now but pisses me off. More preliminary research next time, for now run it and let er rattle.
I have the same motor, intake, max 1 cam and the same tick on the drivers side . I readjusted the valves, still there. I added mufflers (do to the the bright pink hue of my skin from carbon monoxide and the ringing in my ears) and the sound stopped. I think the sound comes from the exhaust valves snapping closed. pogo
JUST A PARTS SELLER AND MONEY GUY? WHAT YOU ARE NOT TELLING EVERYONE IS THAT I DID PM YOU TO HAVE YOU CALL ME, AND YOU DID. I THEN WAS WILLING TO TRY TO MAKE IT RIGHT TO YOU, AND SINCE I WAS NOT THE OWNER AT THAT TIME YOU GOT YOUR LIFTERS, WHICH ACTUALLY WERE THE ONES MADE BY RED AT REDS HEADERS, YOU WANTED ME TO SEND YOU A CHECK FOR $1000. I HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THAT DEAL,BUT WAS WILLING TO GIVE YOU CREDIT IN OUR STORE FOR A FEW HUNDRED BUCKS, BUT BEFORE I COULD OFFER THAT TO YOU ALL YOU DID WAS DEMAND A CHECK FOR A GRAND AND HUNG UP ON ME, INSTEAD YOU WOULD RATHER SPEND ALL YOUR TIME BASHING ME, A PERSON WHOM YOU HAVE NEVER EVEN GAVE THE CHANCE TO WORK WITH YOU. QUITE HONESTLY I TRIED SPEAKING WITH YOU IN A PROFESSIONAL MANNER AND YOU ACTED LIKE A COMPLETE ***. I HAVE JUMPED THRU HOOPS FOR PEOPLE ON THIS BOARD AND WOULD LIKE TO CONTINUE TO DO SO. I AM SORRY THAT YOU HAD A BAD DEAL WITH THE FORMER OWNER BUT THAT WAS A FEW YEARS BEFORE MY TIME, SO GIVE ME A LITTLE SLACK, HAD I BEEN THE OWNER AT THAT TIME WE WOULD NOT BE HAVING THIS DISCUSSION!! I WILL BE THE BIGGER MAN HERE AND MY OFFER STILL STANDS, THIS WILL BE THAT LAST TIME I RESPOND TO ANY OF YOUR POSTINGS, GOOD OR BAD. YOU CAN CONTACT ME AT 1-800-741-4687 OR AGAIN YOU CAN BE UNREASONABLE AND TELL ME TO STICK IT, BUT ALWAYS REMEMBER BEFORE YOU POST AGAIN IN A NEGITIVE WAY THAT I DID TRY TO MAKE YOU A LITTLE HAPPIER. TODD
Such anger! Don't give yourself a heart attack. Yelling with all caps..interesting. I don't remember any offer for a few hundred in credit for parts. I'm sure I would remember that! This must be something new. My story is well do***ented on the HAMB. I even posted the exact e-mail that I received from Isky. A search will reveal all of the gory details. I don't really want any credits for parts. I've written the whole thing off as a loss and a very good learning experience. pigpen pigpen
the reason you did not hear about it is if you think back, you promptly hung up on me after telling me you wanted a grand. i would have been pissed off as you if that would have happened to me by a vendor i will give you that. but on the other hand look at it from my side as well, i nor any of my employees are the ones who screwd you over, i do feel for ya dude but i cant take back what happened because i did not do it. you have no idea how big of a clown tony really was. so do as you wish, but understand what really pisses in my cheerios is your statement that im not a hot rodder, damn guy that's harsh!
Tony? A CLOWN? Wait 'till I tell him! He's gonna KICK YOUR ***! Oh wait... wrong Tony... The Tony I know is a cousin of mine from Italy... his name is Tony because when he came here they wrote "To N.Y." on his papers... Sam.
Back to the cam and lifters. I used an Isky Max1 and adjustables from Speedway. The whole story of installing them is here. The motor has been running great. No clicking or ticking. Pulls way harder. Bit of a tanget here but Bruce L was after me to get rid of the stock cam for over a year. I just wasn't into tearing apart a good running motor. But after doing it I'm an advocate. If you have the money for a new cam and lifters you need to ditch that stock dog before you waste the dough on goofy finned covers for everythnig.
Hi Guys, I've had valve retainer clips slightly disengage which makes for a loud tick tick. Even when they look and feel seated properly they can still be slightly off. Danny
Check this out - i think I may have TOO MUCH. I'm getting 70 down the road running 50wt. Around 35-40 at idle. I'm going to drain it tomorrow and I may go with joe normal 10-30... or just straight 30.
There's just no reason to run 50wt in a flatty, and some real potential for harm. Try Delo 400 10w30. It really helps keep the valve chest clean.
Thanks for the advice. I'll likely go with 10-30 of some sort. One thing I have learned about flatheads is that if you as ten people a question you're sure to get eleven opinions.
Back to my problem with the potential valve noise. Does this engine come with adjustable lifters? I dont think so, so I am ***uming that there is no adjustment I can make. Oil pressure is good, and the plugs look OK. If its not going to hurt anything, should i just run it like this for a while??? Thanks
It's not major surgery to pull the intake manifold and look at your lifters to see if they're adjustable and not major work to re-adjust if they are while you're in there.
That's a whole lot better than the zero psi you had before! 55 psi down the road is normal according to the book. That's about what I get. I think I'm running 10-40. I would be in Hog Heaven (pun intended) if I had 35-40 psi at idle, it's more like 20 when warm! Your 70 psi down the road will probably come down once the new bearings have worn in. Like they say in Oz, no worries mate! pigpen
The valve train is so simple it really can't do serious damage. If you are lucky and they are adjustable then you just have to invest in a new intake gasket, I did have to pay 20 bucks for a pair of Johnson lifter tools for my 21 stud on ebay, they can be got cheaper (no-name) from other places or borrowed. Smart builders drill a 1/8" hole in the bores that a pin can go through into the hollow lifter, eliminating the tool, just need a tappet wrench and 3/32" weld rod, next time for me, maybe you already have it. If not adjustable you will have to do as we did, set up a 90 degree jig on a belt sander of grinder to get the valves flat if shortening them. We shortened the valves because 2 seats were bad and all valves were faced and seats ground so valves were long. If gap is big like you have, have to mig weld on the lifter tops and use the grinding jig to square and adjust them. To do this you have to pull the heads, all the valve pacs. I used old timers advice and paint my gaskets aluminum, re-used the heads 3 times now and seal but no-stick.
The Jalopy Journal
