I've put this off for too long, last time I drove it was at NE drag-way. Left the track fine for about 1 mile, Eng light comes on and car stalls... start up again to find a loud ticking noise located near cyl 1 head. AAA took me home...
Since then I moved to Cali and took a bit of time to ship the Si out, but finally have a nice garage setup where it's been sitting for months.

-Did a compression check: 130psi all cyl (9:1)
-Plugs were black from running rich on warm-up, no oil
-Finally started it up and it runs! Still has the loud ticking noise-- more like plural ticking when rev'd

Next I plan to check valve clearance, doubt the ticking would be this loud from valves out of spec, but once I confirm it's not as simple as a valve adjust I'm gonna hope it's my LCA's and check them out.

Setup: B16a2 head, supertech valve set, GSR cams, PP and some other machine work. This head was taken from my old setup that had sleeves that sank, so the head had a nice thick layer of milky stuff... Cleaned it up, checked seal, re-surfaced, check flatness then just re-used on new built bottom end.



One I get it running w/no mech issues again I need to update the S100 to an S300 (unless someone has a better suggestion )

It's tuned for 93oct to 14psi (SC44)... then I find CA only has 91

So that's where I'm at. I'll post updates on the loud ticking issue, anyone with some good insight to help me boost again is much appreciated


Modified by turbosi03 at 4:12 PM 4/3/2007

 

The motor ran great for 13k miles with fresh bottom and used head from old setup.

Some people say the ticking noise could also be from spun rod bearing...
Hopefully it's only head issue.
Anyone wanna speculate?

 

130psi cold is ok, but you should be in the 180psi range hot.

does the ticking get worse when you rev the car?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by trickeng &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">130psi cold is ok, but you should be in the 180psi range hot.

does the ticking get worse when you rev the car?</TD></TR></TABLE>

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by turbosi03 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
-Finally started it up and it runs! Still has the loud ticking noise-- more like plural ticking when rev'd Modified by turbosi03 at 4:12 PM 4/3/2007</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

Hey Trickeng! You guys did my part thottle street tune for breakin, and also hooked me up with a quick dump tube... One of the very few shops in NE that's trust worthy

Anyway, the compression gauge still would have gone up but I just keep turn overs consistant. It seems to take longer to built pressure in the gauge with lower compression motor. Should I turn over until gauge stops going up next time, then note num of turns?

Ticking seems to turn into plural tickings when I rev... almost like marbles as described for detonation. So yeah seems worse...

Would bad LMA have that simptom?

 

well, ticking type noises are in my experience, valvetrain, large piston to wall clearance or scuffed pistons. unless you overrev'ed the motor bad its most likely not valvetrain, your motor was quite before so it most likely not piston to wall(for machining) and scuffed pistons don't always show loss of compression in the early stages but the rings get caught on the material transfer areas causing the piston to smack the cyl wall.