I've been running Toda A camshafts in my GS-R since late January. I've also been having this problem where my engine makes a pretty loud tick, especially beween 2-3k. I was convinced that it was my valves being out of spec. Today, I adjusted my valves to the Toda specs (.2mm all around), and the ticking hasn't gone away. It was my first time doing a valve adjustment, so I checked and double checked the clearances on each cylinder. I've also got Skunk2 cam gears and I decided that the tick marks on the gears were the "up" side. There are little holes on the gears to indicate TDC. I took the meaning of "slight drag" to mean that the feeler gauge could be slid in, but I had to wiggle it to get it between the cam lobes and lifters. I also checked that the next size up could not do this. My car was also sitting in my garage over night.

After I got done with the valves, I took the car out for a few redline-runs and it seemed to pull a lot more smoother than before. The power band feels more linear. Of course this could be all mental, but I'm fairly sure of it.

I'm not sure what else could be causing the sounds. Could it just be regular cam noise? Is there anything else that would cause loud ticking?

I've also noticed recently that my exhaust (Tanabe RM) has gotten louder throughout the RPM's and seems to makes a more lopey sound at idle. I'm not sure if that's related though.

 

Bump for same problem!