i took off my head on my GSR, replaced rocker arms, went back to stock, did the usual head-rebuilding things (i.e. recut valves, seatvalves etc) and my car started up just fine. had a small exhaust leak from re-using the old header gasket, as i expected, but as the car idles about 5+ minutes, and starts to get hot, it has some NASTY clicking sounds coming from what sounds like the front of the head (exhaust side).

i did a valve adjustment also, but i left the exhaust side at about .010" (normally .008"-.007"), and intake at .008" (normally .007"-.006"). when i rev it, i cant hear it clicking, but when it idles, i hear it clicking just at random.

earlier it was continous, '.... click click...... click click..... click click'

i checked a few things, turned it on, and its doing it at random now, 'click.... click ..... clickclick..... CLICK..... click ..click'.

anyone got any suggestions?

 

First check that all the retainers are on correctly.
Then check to see if any of the valve springs and miss seated.

Also check cam timing.

 

yup. everything is good.

 

Did you replace the LMA's
Also try emptying the oil and checking it for metal shavings.

If you didnt mill the head I cant think of it being anything other then LMA's or valve lash.

 

LMA?

oil came out good... dirty, but good.

and i didnt re-surface it this time, because last head gasket i put on (2 weeks before this one) was taken off because of bad problems i was having with the car. when turned on, it wouldnt idle, wouldnt rev, wouldnt run, northing. so i pulled the head, and had to replace 2-3 valves. so i figured head was still straight since the car was only on for about 10 minutes before.

valve lash is good, but ill check it again, and set it as close as i can to spec.

 

Lost motion assembly.

They are little spring/hydrolic cussions that sit under the vtec rockers. They stop them from flaping around while the vtec pin isnt locked in. The hydrolic(old style) ones wear out every 50,000ks or atleast they did for me. Then the tapping sound would come back. Spring(new style) ones seem to last alot longer, never worn a set out.

Have a read of this,
http://www.g2ic.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1888923

 

oh, those! i always refered to them as 'lifter' cause i didnt know the proper name lol.

yeah, theyre hydrolic. is there any way to check them? whatever it is didnt start clicking till after i pulled my head the second time. a few fell out, and i lubed them up, and stuffed them back in, so maybe i put them in incorrectly, or something.

 

push down on them and they should be bouncy, If they are sticky at all they are stuffed.