Hybrid96EK

Made a little video of the noise to help out. I switched from 10w-30 to 20w-50 as most people run around here to see what it would do for my noise. Seemed to make things pretty quiet at cold start... but it takes about 10 seconds for the noise to begin. Here is what I know for a fact...

PTW is .0035 I personally measured it myself to confirm the machine work
SRP pistons, 9:1, stock head, fresh valvejob
ACL race bearings. Recently inspected the rods, perfect shape
Eagle rods. Full floating pin.
74.25mm bore. Fresh bore for this build
JE pro seal rings, excellent leakdown and compression, no oil consumption issues whatsoever even under heavy boost
Runs great, gets good mileage, the noise just gets me sometimes

http://s276.photobucket.com/albums/k...t=IMG_0154.mp4

So anyways. I see some opinions saying thats just what forged pistons do, I see others saying thiers sounds completely like a stock engine. Obviously this isn't sounding stock. Just looking to get a few other opinions on the matter. Lemme know what you think.

sik96teg

Damn thats a loud tick. I have forged pistons and i dont hear anything like that from my motor. Mine sounds pretty close to stock and all my friends with built motors dont have a tick like that. It sounds to me like something is wrong but maybe someone else will chime in. It almost sounds like you need to redo your valve adjustment.

Mugencrxsir1

My engine is loud, but it doesn't sound like that... I hate to say it but the last time I heard that sound it was a VW with a valve tap, the car was a complete lemon! But yes mine is much louder than stock at idle, much louder than my exhaust! My exhaust is actually very quite!

Mugencrxsir1

Oh my set up... Basics: LS/Vtec, .63 turbonetics, SRP 81mm, Eagle rods, ARP Everything, etc... Full 3" exhaust with 14" reasonator and Meagan N1...

Very quite exhaust as my engine noise over shadows it...

My Tuner has me on Motul 3000 Break in oil, which is 10w30... On my second oil change with this stuff and will be switching over to Motul 8100 Full Synthetic 5w30...

Mugencrxsir1

What is your valve lash? You might have to double check your valve clearance as the more I listen to it the more it sounds like a valve tap!

DeLucia

Sounds like your valve adjustment is wayy to big on one valve

Hybrid96EK

.007" intake and .009 exhaust. Set on a stone cold engine. I just cut new valve seats and did the valves about three days ago. I am pretty sure its not a valve lash issue, but I could be wrong. I've checked them countless times, never an issue to be found...

racebum

are those 4032 or 2014 pistons? .0035 is on the looser end for 4032 and will rattle like hell until they warm up. if they are thermal coated it's even that much worse. the few 4032 pistons i remember seeing sheets on suggest .0025 with .0030 as the upper range. you're always better off too loose than too tight but that could be part of your issue

Hybrid96EK

They are 4032.. The sheet specifically says that is a RECCOMENDED PTW and certain applications such as nitrous and boost may require an additional thousandth. The machine shop wanted to set these to 4 thousandths.. I settled on three and a half. Ive seen LOTS of people stating they were running three and a half with no issues. My goals are 350whp, so I went on the looser end of the spectrum.

racebum

rattle should go away when warm. i ran mahles at 3 and a half for awhile, same thing cold rattle. probably would go 3 or a hair under next time. are yours rattling even with the engine warm?

being excessively rich could possibly be part of it since cylinder temps would stay down

Hybrid96EK

That video was made when the engine was a FULL operating temperature. I would say honestly the noise is pretty quiet when it first fires up when cold. Quiet for about 10 seconds, then gets this tick like noise shown in the video.

2k.civic.si

something isnt right. and it sounds like its in the head.

Hybrid96EK

Well I suppose it could be. I completely disassembled the head and cleaned everything before using it. All caps were torqued to spec. The LMA's are all good and tight... any ideas otherwise? Dist shaft doesn't seem to rattle..

dk=gsr

might even be a bent valve???
but who knows. you will have to do valve adjustment again to see if it goes a way.
if not than take off your head to see if you have any bent valves.

samuraijackass

yeah my mahle pistons are noisy on a cold start but when the car warms up the noise goes away and it sounds pretty much stock. That noise sounds like a valve issue to me. When my pistons are cold they don't tick like that, they sound more like a "clatter" if that makes sense to you.

Hybrid96EK

Not to be a dick, but did you read what I typed? It has excellent leakdown and compression. I JUST did a valvejob on it myself... as in ground the seats and the valves. They are 100% for sure not bent.

PyroProblem

Is there any way you can check the frequency of it? Maybe with a timing light?
If we can determine engine speed vs 1/2 engine speed, maybe it will help pinpoint it.....

Only other thing I can think of is using a stethoscope (or screwdriver) and seeing if you can find it then...
Good luck.

non-VTEC

my JE's with about .0035 - .0040 ptw sound like a early 90's VW deisel when cold. pretty quiet when fully warm.

they never did that when the engine was fresh...only after some hard aquired miles....still runs good though....

Turbo-LS

iTrader: (4)

Im running srp pistons in my gsr and that just seems like alot of PTW for a high silcon content piston. the purpose of running these is they dont expand like the low silcon pistons so tighter ptw can br run and there a harder pistons.

When you reved at the end i heard the pistons slap, the rest of the video IMO sounds like valve lash or pistons hitting the head. Ive had pistons hitting the head before and thats exactly how it sounded. I ordered LS rods for my stroked gsr and they sent me gsr rods. not even thinking to check i installed the gsr rods and the pistons tapped the head untill engine warmed up and pistons expanded and then went away. needless to say i installed ls rods and my problem is solved

Hybrid96EK

Well I am pretty confident the pistons aren't hitting the head. I ran this around 2k miles and removed the head for the valve work last week. There was plenty of carbon on the quench pads on the bottom of the head. Not like caked, but enough to indicate there wasn't any piston to head contact. The pistons also all had a light coat of carbon on them as well. When I first put this engine together, this noise didn't exist. These pistons were in another block that the machine shop bored WAY too large. That engine had .007" PTW clearance and the noise at idle was horrible. Not to mention it gobbled up oil like mad. I pulled it completely apart and had another block (the one I am currently using) bored to the correct spec by a local machine shop. When I first fired this engine up, there was no noise like this. I would say it developed over the course of a weeks time. Perhaps its from the carbon build up? I think today I am going to try swapping to another set of LMA's to see if this has any impact.

kyden

wouldn't you have noticed the gsr rods have a different width on the big end when you put the bearings in?

0xenocron

Did you pull the pan and check for loose bearings?

d112crzy

Bad wrist pin/bushing. Or it could be something in the rocker assembly is loose. But I'm 99% sure its a bad wrist pin.

Only way to know for sure is to disassemble the motor and find out.

Hybrid96EK

Yes. I only inspected the rod bearings. I didn't find any metal whatsoever or any other issues.

Hybrid96EK

I just had this whole engine apart less then 2k miles ago. The pistons and rods were inspected by myself and a local machine shop and we both concluded they were good for service. The pistons and rods were purchased brand new, in the box from the manufacture. There are two spiro locks per assembly, one on each side. The wrist pins do move ever so slightly in the piston and obviously the rods float on the pin. I saw nothing that would indicate a problem or accelerated wear when it was apart.