Yeah almost every cylinder had a leak haha. I did find some 5/16-18 bolts that had a 5/16 12 point head from McMaster Carr, and I was actually able to get the box end of my wrench on all the bolts and get them nice and snug as opposed to tight ish (thanks JBA), so I now shouldn’t have any more leaks. I did notice that on decel it no longer sounds horrendous, so a win is a win. Now just time to aim at that ticking noise

 

So I took the valve covers off and ran the engine briefly while warm. No change in sound. Attached is a video. All 8 rockers on the driver bank are getting oil, so it doesn’t seem like it’s an oil related issue. Going to wait for a day where I have time to check the pushrods while the engine is completely cold and feel how they spin. I can go up to longer push rods if it’s possible that’s another possibility but I feel like I’m pretty deep into preload currently

 

Well, that's certainly a valve train tick...... roll the engine over manually, and when each cylinder is at TDC, see if there is any slop in the rockers.....

 

Would the pushrod being too short cause the slop? I know that you can get a feel for proper lash by spinning the pushrods at TDC but given this is the first engine I’ve ever built it’s safe to say I don’t have the experience to “feel” it.

 

It really just doesn't take much slop for things to be noisy. Couple thousands of an inch would be sufficient. Don't know if you would be able to feel that or not...... I never really relied on the 'spin the pushrod' thing though.... But then, I normally worked on GM engines, with adjustable valve train...... so it was back one off till it was noisy, turn it tight till the noise stopped, give it another half turn or so, move on the next. And you ended up with a quiet valve train. Mopar though, aren't adjustable that way from the factory.... I suppose I can understand that.... doesn't mean I have to like it. It IS possible to install rocker studs, and use chevy narrow-body rockers, (rollers are available....) and end up with an adjustable system.... but, I believe that requires machining the heads, etc..... If you have the motor apart, that's one thing, but, since you don't...... that would be a rather expensive solution.

I wonder though, if you could just press down on the end of the rocker, (engine running) and see if the noise changed. (no idea if that would actually work though.) Anyway, Give both methods a shot. Pay attention to how much EFFORT it takes to spin the pushrods. I suspect that some you won't be able to with your fingers.

 

So from what I can hear, it seems like it’s just one cylinder that has a noisy lifter, unless it’s actually all of them and it just sounds weird. Buying adjustable rockers is an option through Harland for a small block I believe, but it’s like $800. Not exactly something I can just go buy like it’s ice cream lol.

Pushrods though are cheap relatively speaking, so I might buy some longer ones to see how it goes. Though it still confuses me how my previous pushrod length changes didn’t make a difference, unless the entire time I’ve been too loose and I just thought I was close and it was something else

 

Do you have the pushrod length checking tool? If not, might be able to rent one from your local auto parts store.

 

I do and I measured 6.810” zero lash, that’s where I got my current pushrod measurements from at .126” preload

 

So your pushrods are 6.936?

 

Yes, I measured multiple cylinders intake and exhaust and average zero was 6.81 across them, so I ordered the 6.936 length