loud ticking/slapping valve cover

[gippy87]

I just rebuilt my s14 sr 20. It had no problems or noises prior to tearing it down for the rebuild. I had it bored and hones and head and block resurfaced. The valvetrain was left untouched and reassembled the same way it came apart with everything in the same place. Only thing I did was bleed the lifters following the fsm. Some reason I now have a noise under the valve cover that sounds a lot like my sohc when it was low on oil. I'm showing 75psi for oil pressure. When I cold start the motor it runs perfect with no noises. After the first minute or 2 the noise becomes apparent. But it continues to run perfect. Any ideas what might have caused this to happen? The motor was only apart for about a week.

[gippy87]

I was thinking maybe some debris from machining are blocking the oil passages to the head but the machine shop said they cleaned it very well

[rebornS14]

not saying it is, but alot of people mistake exhaust leaks for noises from valvecover. a loose exhaust manifold bolt or crack in manifold/downpipe makes very simular noises.

[misfitsfreak81]

what do you have for oil pressure at idle when its warm? deff sounds like an oil starvation problem. sr valve trains are pretty fuckin loud to begin with though.

Mike