Ticking sound is scaring me

MrHungwell94

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6:33 PM
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Apr 27, 2015
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So my engine is making an obnoxious ticking noise near the head. This started happening after I decided I wanted to change the engines position slightly by lowering the front mount / raising the rear mount, and to make it fit better I spun the (slant) head around so the spark plug was on the exhaust side rather than the intake side. After firing it back up it ticked extremely loud so I then replaced the slant head with center fire head and the noise doesn't seem to be quite as loud but is still very annoying.

The noise increases in speed as the engine increases rpm's, and it gets so loud at high speeds it is stronger than my exhaust and bothers my ears. I thought maybe the piston could be smacking my spark plug, but i was told I wouldn't still be riding it if that was the case....I'm also using an Ngk iridium spark plug, and adjusted the carb to run more lean.
So...any ideas?

I can post a video of it tomorrow but it's 330 am here and Im sure I **** the neighborhood off enough by riding it home from work at this hour, I don't need to go back out there and start revving it up lmao
 
I should've mentioned that this was right after a pretty long ride, I decided to adjust my engine because it had loosened a little and was vibrating. I could've possibly not noticed the ticking over the vibration of my engine before I adjusted it.
 
I have seen an occasion where the head gasket was positioned wrong & the piston was hitting the gasket ever so slightly...could be your problem
 
I have the head off now at with the piston at TDC I see silver around part of the pistons brim, I believe you might be right my friend.. image.jpg
 
Filed out the edges around the inner ring of the gasket just slightly and pressed on it on the opposite side of the marks on the piston( it has quite a bit of play room) while putting the head back on and presto! Ticking sound gone. While I feel dumb wasting a thread on this, maybe others with a similar problem will stumble upon this thread later on!
 
Just a note on head torque.
You really need a torque wrench to do this do right, and it does matter.

The manual says 12#, I run my 66's at 20#, 5# at a time in a X pattern cold, then again when it's hot.
 
I have heard this many times... I do not have a torque wrench but I tighten my bolts in the way you describe, but to avoid over-tightening I do not hold the end of the ratchet (where you'd have the most leverage) instead I hold right by the head of it so I'm basically hand tightening, this way it is much easier to tell by feel if they are (roughly) equally torqued. Not as good as having a torque wrench but it's probably the safest way to do it without one
 
most manuals say 10# for 8mm studs, but I push them to 12#
 
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