Posted by Vaughn on Saturday, February 04, 2006 at 11:18AM :
In Reply to: Flathead Valve Noise - Time to adjust Valves? posted by John M on Saturday, February 04, 2006 at 8:56AM :
The first problem - burnt points. Do you have a ballest resister connected inline from the lead wire coming from the ignition switch to the coil? That's not enough miles to burn out points
The second problem - valve noise. Since it only happens above 3000 rpm, my guess is one of the tappets is starving for oil or one of the tappets has flattened out where it rides on the cam lobe causing a snap sensation producing the tappet sound.
You may want to consider buying a can of detergent additive and add to the oil to help clear out any oil passages. DON'T USE ENGINE FLUSH PRODUCTS. Mobile 1 synthetic is expensive, but it also is a high detergent motor oil. You want to gradually clean any partially plugged passages.
TIP
Always disassemble all engine parts and inspect during any rebuild. It prevents having to go back in later. I rebuilt an Olds 330 and took the tappets apart to clean. When I did that I did'nt notice that they were flattened. After I assembled the engine and drove it for about 1500 miles, it started making tappet noise and I ended up having to put in new tappets.
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