Damn. I typed in the wrong spot above. Too hard to fix on phone. Appears as though you answered your own question, Chubbs.

 

Me, too. I am learning here. And that's no small feat for someone my age who already knows it all.

Alright. I drove it today and there was no tap, then a tap, then no tap again. Over maybe an hour. As I drove, it started again. Then when I stopped at a light I had maximum tap, lean codes and got three amigos, with a low idle. I think that's an air leak it exhaust leak somewhere. I don't have any brake problems, for sure and I didn't have a misfire (even in pending codes)

 

Just had another thought, but it was quickly dispelled.

I did take my homebrew SAI plugs off when I put the ill-fated heads in (bolt damage) because they had huge heads and were in the way of the head bolts. I used the stock plugs off of my old heads. When fate struck, I pulled the stock plugs off the ill-fated heads and put them back on the current heads again. I thought maybe one of them was loose. Just checked at they are very tight (16mm).

 

Okay. Well this weekend I'm going to take the intake off, upper and lower, so I can put my lower intake on that isn't being a punk with a gummy bolt hole. I'll pull the valve covers and check the rocker bolts and look for anything else amiss. I'll also put new exhaust gaskets on.

Please let me know what I should be looking for, if it isn't anything that would be obvious to a monkey with a wrench!

 

If not already in your tool box a mechanic's stethoscope and not a cheap HF one. Should be able to isolate where tap's located down to a specific valve's train if the case.
......

 

Quote
((Please let me know what I should be looking for))
-----
The tapping sound in video is clearly much slow's than engine rpm, I would guess half the speed,, so definitely nothing that moves with crankshaft speed,,,
Camshaft rotates half the speed of crank,, so most likely whatever moves with camshaft can be suspect even camshaft itself,, (I hope a camshaft bearing is not loose that comes forward & hits cam sometimes then goes back & no tapping, which will be really uncommon),, So most likely everybody that thinks it's valve train noise is on right track,
The only other thing that will be half the speed of crankshaft if combustion in cylinders, so a bad exhaust manifold gasket or even a hair crack in exhaust manifold can make that tap,,
---
((Such a shame that you have such a bad luck with that beautifully painted engine,,, many years ago me & my buddy used to put together high performance 4 cylinder BMW engines
With 336* schrick cams & 48weber DCOE's ,, my buddy never let me take pictures of engines until they ran perfect for few hours,, his believe was, it will jinks them, so I would blame it on pictures you took,! Haha Jkn),

 

Haha I'm afraid I am the one who is jinxed! Great observation on the timing of the tick. The video was actually very helpful because it convinced me that my hearing was correct and that the sound was coming from the passenger side head. Now, when I hear it, my eyes go straight to the spot on he heads directly above and between 8 and 6, and everyone else who has heard it agrees before I can poison them with my belief.

I did re torque the manifold today and didn't hear any difference.

I drove to the store this evening and it was ticking when I left, had stopped five miles later when I arrived at the store, and was back again when I returned home. Very frustrating.




I guess any jinx is well set already.

Obviously I'd rather have a problem in the heads than the crank or cam. Even more so because I do not have a spare valley gasket. Since the problem arose when I swapped the heads, that's a pretty good bet.

 

Well I've already discovered one thing. Not critical but could have been. I didn't move the ground strap from the driver head when I swapped heads, meaning no ground strap. I'm owning on that now. Tight spaces.

I loosened the passenger manifold bolts to have a look at the gasket. Picked a good head to go on the passenger side assuming I swap.

 

2 hours in minus breaks. I'm making good progress. So far I see nothing wrong, which is BAD.

I put 8 and 6 at TDC and there is no play in the push rods.

Must be the valves or rocker so off comes the head.

 

Definitely either a valve or injector issue on 2. That cylinder was clean two weeks ago. Now it is caked on the top only.



And here are the valves. Front is to the right.

Opinions?

Plugs are non black. Still not getting misfires.

Clearly no slipped sleeve.

Cups on rockers appear to be there. I haven't taken the rockers off. Bolts are tight. They all move freely.

I'm at a loss. Everything appears okay. Lifters look new and are not crushed.

I started the engine before I started work to be sure it was ticking. Cam looks fine and bearings are in place.