Hey guys, me again with my motor that runs great but sounds like a sewing machine. I have new theories on what could be happening. So on the stock original motor (never rebuilt) I swapped some junkyard gt40 heads with 250,000 miles on them and installed them, cuz hey, they were 60$ each. So I lapped the valves myself and ported and put them on along with e303 cam, gt40 intake. Everything sounds good, I can tell a little difference in the engine noise but it was nothing bad sounding and I could tell it was just from the cam. No issues. 4 months later, I get this sound and it slowly starts getting worse until it stopped getting worse. Very soon after the oil gauge showed no pressure so rebuild time. Except I drove it around at least 1k miles with 2lb of oil pressure and 20lbs driving. So eventually I rebuilt it. The crank and block were cracked so new ones of both. Basically the bottom end is completely new. But the top end... I just slapped the old heads on after driving them around for 1-2k miles with no oil pressure. Should I have gotten new heads? Also what about the cam? There was a lot of copper dust in the oil pan when it was first taken apart. Could my valve guides, valves or the head somehow be damaged by lack of oil pressure? It doesn't have blue smoke, but it has new seals? Valves can wiggle back and I don't think there is anything wrong with the valve train like pushrod length and lash wise is because it rain quiet when I first swapped the heads/cam, but with the driving with no oil pressure I think I must of damaged one of the two. They are really all that I reused from when the ticking started, so in my mind I am thinking these could be the issue. Any ideas would be great. Thanks guys.

 

I did get new rockers (stock stamped style), lifters and stock length hardened pushrods. Since the block is decked I would think I need a shorter pushrod. The pushrods I'm running are 6.25 but if I go lower to 6.24, it's just barely tight enough to get the pushrods to stop spinning, and shorter, it woint stop spinning (when installing rockers). Thanks again for reading

 

The copper flakes probably came from your bearings.The bearings are coated,but copper underneath, so once they get worn,the copper begins to show then starts to disintegrate,winding up in the oil/oil pan.Most of your oil pressure comes from the clearances between your bearings and crank/rod journals,so once the bearings wear down or you get score marks from trash/dust/metal in the oil,oil pressure immediately drops.Lack of oil or a internal coolant leak (blown head gasket/leaking intake gasket) will eat bearings up within a few thousand miles.If the block/head was cracked at a cooling passage,antifreeze was likely the cause of bearing failure.
Now on to the new setup.If the block has been decked,the heads will sit slightly lower,so its important to make sure the lower intake is sealing properly because the shortened height of the block & heads can sometimes prevent the intake from sealing since its physically not mating perfectly with those components now.Just keep an eye on your oil and the bottom side of the oil filler cap.If you notice a white,milkshake appearing substance on the cap or on the dipstick,youve got coolant leaking internally,most likely the intake gasket.The fix for this is to have the intake milled,so it will sit lower to match the block and heads.
If youve replaced the lifters & rockers,the valves/seats/springs would be the only other component to make this kind of noise.You never rebuild the bottom end without rebuilding the top end too.Another thing of importance about the springs is their weakness.The springs,retainers and keepers on the gt40 heads have to be replaced automatically when running them on the Foxbody 302 HO engine,and thats with the stock cam.Theyre even more mandatory when running an aftermarket cam.The oem gt40 springs are only adequate for the Explorer cam,but not the Foxbody cam or aftermarket cam.Your valves are likely sticking either because of worn valves/seats or weak valvesprings. If youve got an air compressor and a compression tester with a quick disconnect fitting,you can get the #1 piston to tdc on the compression stroke,screw the compression tester hose (without the gauge) into the spark plug hole,set the compressor to 100psi then plug the compressor hose into the tester hose.This pressurizes the combustion chamber.If any air is heard escaping, the valve for that cylinder is leaking.If you hear it escaping into the intake,the intake valve is leaking. If its in the exhaust,the exhaust valve is leaking. If an actual compression test is done for each cylinder and the #'s are low,that also indicates a leak.If a valve has too much play in it at the valve guide,it will leak too.If you do locate valves leaking, youre better off removing the heads and getting them reworked by a machine shop.
They'll check all valves/guides/seats,replace any bad ones and then do a 3/5 angle valve job,so everything will be seated properly.If the valve seals or guides are leaking, youll normally see a little smoke at startup.

 

Wbrockstar thanks for the reply. I agree with you that the valves seem to be the only thing left. I forgot metion install new valve springs with the cam from aleks parts for gt40 heads. They are the right springs. The valve tip where the rocker contacts looks flat and perfectly fine. I lapped the valves with valve lapping compound and a drill. If the vavles we're sticking, would I notice it in the performance? It runs perfectly fine, starts every time, seems to have good power. Iwill have to do the compression test just in case.

 

Have you rechecked valve lash since the motor has been ran?? Valve lash issues are more common on adjustable roller rockers than stock pedestal rockers, but they might need a relash if the lifters didnt have oil in them when you lashed them the first go around?? Your mention of the pushrods and how they were spinning.Are you saying they barely stopped spinning while hand tightening the rocker bolts or while using a ratchet,as in the rocker bolts wouldn't tighten any further than that?? You should have been able to hand tighten the bolts until the pushrods stopped spinning then torqued the bolts to 24-25ftlbs?? The bolts shouldnt bottom out in the head,before/when you're done lashing, if thats what you're insinuating?? Also,Ive torqued them without doing the following procedure before ,without issues, but did you pull each piston up to tdc before torqueing each pair of rocker bolts?? After you pull the #1 piston up to tdc on the compression stroke (the 0° balancer mark should be aligned with the timing pointer,for the piston to be at tdc) & torque the rockers for the #1 cylinder,the crank should then be rotated 90° CW so the rockers for the #3 cylinder can be torqued, etc,etc.They are torqued following the firing order.To identify every 90° of crank rotation,get the #1 piston at tdc (0° mark aligned with timing pointer) draw a line/dot on the front of the balancer (using Witeout) at the 0° mark then draw another line at the bottom of the balancer thats inline with the top one.Finish by drawing lines perpendicular to these lines.
The picture shown below illustrates this.Every line represents 90 more degrees of crank rotation. If you haven't relashed them since the engine has been ran,I would do that to see if the bolts are loose.It shouldnt be occurring, but just to verify,check the underside of the valve covers for rocker contact marks.
A compression test should diagnose whether a valve is le​​aking.

 

I have a few times. The way I've been doing it is get it at tdc and tightening bolt while spinning pushrod until i can't spin, then tighten to 22ft lbs. Nothing is loose, I'm just saying with the adjustable pushrod,you if I try anything much smaller than what I've got in it it will be loose ( I'll have to start using the wrench to tighten rocker bolt to get pushrod to stop spinning in my hand.)It gets there in a bit more than a 1/4 turn. I have also tried up to 3/4 turn with no change. I have the stock 6.25 " pushrods. I have checked the valve train and nothing seems to be wrong....no wear on anything. This is so weird. I remember when it first appeared, it was very slight, and got worse and worse. That tells me something has worn away over time....but everything but the cast iron heads and vales are brand new in this motor!!idk, maybe I'm looking in the wrong place...