You don't have to remove the heads. Intake, valve covers. And rockers so you can pull the pushrods out.

 

10-4, that sounds WAAAYYY better. I was thinking I had to pull the heads previously to get enough clearance but then I was in tear down mode so everything was coming off anyway. Is there anything else you can think of in there that I should pay close attention to that may cause oiling issues? I am hoping to only do this one more time so I am looking for anything I can do while in there so I don't have any more of those "I don't really remember" moments. I know I was trying to pay really close attention to everything I was doing but if I can't SPECIFICALLY remember doing something, I ain't going to swear to any of it.

 

Did you submerse the lifters in oil and pump them up manually before putting them in? Doing this gets all the air out and fills them with oil. Did you adjust the fuel sync after you put it all together?

 

i have a really annoyin tick on my motor so i took it in. it only would do it when it was super cold then stop but you could here it doing it at high rpms. Turns out it was a blown header gasket on one of my aftermarket borla headers. I had the cat replaced and the guy stripped a bolt on the header and i guess it just blew out recently. Definitely annoying but it might be a similar problem for you. check the header gaskets and the exhaust manifold

 

ok, so I broke down and made a vid of the motor sounds. Let me know what you think.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxLx...ature=youtu.be

 

Sounds like valve train clatter. Could be as you said, miss aligned a lifter oil hole.
Are any rockers loose when they are unloaded?
Does it go away when warmed up?

 

I think the answer is no because you didn't answer this the first time.

Not doing so will take time to get all the air out of them.

Second was the motor primed with oil before did the final bolt ons and started it?
Sounds like you have more than one lifter that is making noise. As said in the last post check for slop in the valve train when the lifter is at the bottom of the cam lobe. Remove the valve cover and do this manually.

 

+Beeker - no, there is no looseness or play on the valve train as the motor is spun over. After initial start-up I originally thought I may have torqued something wrong or possibly had a push rod that wasn't properly seated so the first start-up, I only let it run for about 10 minutes, then I went back in and re-adjusted all the rockers to 21 checking to be sure all the push rods were seated. Noise was still there on 2nd start-up so I didn't let it run much until I can feel like I am on the right track.
+Moparite - you are correct. I dis not submerge and pre-prime the lifters although that sounds like a good idea. I have done several motors in the past and have not had issues but this is my first Dodge motor so maybe they are more sensitive to that. Also I did not pre-prime the motor. As everyone knows, the space in these trucks is a pain to deal with so what I decided to do was set the block in w/o heads or intake and build it in the truck. It actually worked out pretty good but there wasn't much room at the back where I believe you put a drill and rod into the distributor hole and spin it until the oil starts to pump. I can say I am getting about 45 psi at idle so the oil pressure sensor is seeing pressure.
I am going to go back in and double check the oil holes and I will probably go ahead and pull the lifters and do the submerge pump thingif I can find a good way to do it. Is it common for these to make this kind of noise for a while until everything builds pressure? Is it possible the lifters will pump up and quiet if I let it run maybe 45 minutes?

 

Shouldn't take more than five minutes, but in that time you may damage a lifter or push rod. Don't run the engine above idle speed until all of the lifters are pumped up and quiet or you'll find out about that damage firsthand. You were sure to install the lifters with the oil holes pointing upward, weren't you? If they're turned down you might never get that lifter to pump up properly.

Were it mine I'd remove the valve covers and run the thing at idle so I could put a finger on each rocker arm, in turn, to determine whether or not I can feel lifters hammering on pushrods. If it's happening, then you can know which lifters (or rockers, or valve guides, or valves...) need attention.

To prime a lifter for installation, drop it in a small can containing enough motor oil to completely submerge the lifter, then exercise the piston (compress and release) with an old pushrod until air bubbles stop escaping from the lifter and it's difficult to compress the piston. It's easier if you have a drill press into which you can chuck an old pushrod to get some mechanical advantage. Second best is to fabricate some kind of a lever system that's stable (not dangerous) that can be used to apply force to the pushrod. Least fun is doing it by hand -- drill a hole larger than the diameter of the old pushrod into a piece of wood, and use that wood to push on the rod. Don't be surprised if you have a mishap or two and cover everything in the vicinity with oil.

I always plant a dab of grease on the tops of lifter pistons before dropping them into their bores, but lots of guys don't and we all get good results. Your call there.

Good luck!

 

The grease on the bottom of lifter sounds like leftover tips from the flat tappet camshaft days

Not a bad idea anyway though.