Oh boy this isn’t good. I got the 1953 Studebaker champion project fired up for longer today and as I listen, I can’t tell if it has rod knock or valve train noise, but I hate it regardless. (It’s the little 2.8L in-line flathead 6.) When I heard it the engine was still relatively cold, and the oil pressure is at about 60 pounds at idle. It can’t be the water pump or generator because those are disconnected at the moment. It’s an intermittent tapping sound at idle and lower RPMs. Sounds too low pitched to be valve train really, it’s less of a tick and more of a lower pitched tap, but not loud. When it’s at low idle you can’t really hear it too well, when you start to rev it up it gets louder until about 2000-3000RPM when it quiets back down. Then you let off and it acts the same. I can’t tell if it’s STP time or rebuild time 😞… One thing I did notice though, is that it had a misfire too, and when the misfire cleared up the knocking stopped at those higher RPMs. Idk, I’ll let y’all be the judge. Thank you for any help you can give me! Here is a link to a video of it running, and I will say that it sounds louder in the video than it does in person: https://youtube.com/shorts/LZ8OeUzFAGA?si=j7BTNfyxxK30rAnL
It's hard to say, sounds like valve clatter to me. Rod knock is usually much heavier and would increase with load. Probably that old thing has mechanical tappets, maybe the valves need to be adjusted. If it's like the Nash/Rambler flathead sixes (1941-1965) there would be removable covers on the side of the engine to access the adjusters.
On Rambler flathead sixes valve adjustment is recommended every 8,000 to 10,000 miles. I'm not sure about Studebaker but the engine design is even older, having debuted in the 1932 Studebaker Rockne, so it probably needs frequent valve adjustments as well.
I took the valve covers off and a few of the lifters weren’t rotating but were going up and down seemingly fine. I worked them back and forth for a bit and now they’re at least trying to rotate when the engine is running. Think that’s my main problem?
Hard to say, from the video sounds like excessive valve clearance.
I took the valve covers off and a few of the lifters weren’t rotating but were going up and down seemingly fine. I worked them back and forth for a bit and now they’re at least trying to rotate when the engine is running. Think that’s my main problem?
Most likely. Rod knock is a deep, very distinct sound. If the sound goes away with higher RPMs, it's your valves that are chattering. With rod knock, the sound becomes more frequent and louder. It also comes from deep within the engine. https://youtu.be/Bad9JIBFoOI?si=mPETNwwF_vvfBoeJ
It might just need to wake up and be driven. The more I messed with the lifters they started moving and rotating more and more and acting more normal. The car was a barn find abandoned since the 80s, so it hasn’t been ran much since it was revived lol.
I wish I were you, finding that, lol.
I should also probably add that it seems intermittent, like I just started the engine up again and the tapping almost isn’t there at all. I also went through the plugs one by one pulling the wires off, no charge in the sound.