304 valve noise

["Chuck Welles" <cfw3@domain.elided>]

Dear fellow Scouters...

I posted a 'Help!' message on the digest about a week ago and I am 
sorry that I did not respond to anyone but I did get all of your 
thoughts about the problem and took your suggestions.  To make a long 
story short, the problem is fixed and the 304 runs as quiet as can be 
now.  Thank God!! After a year of frustration, with many attempts at 
fixing the problem over the past year, I finally found it.  John hit 
on the problem exactly, it was oil supply.

Anyway, I tore the motor down, took the intake manifold off, and 
pulled the cam out.  I then spun the oil pump with a drill and 
watched the oil spurt out the holes that feed the cam.  All the oil 
feeds had a healthy 'geyser' but the last one (and the most important 
- because it feeds the lifter galley too) didn't!!  So, I pulled the 
motor out of the truck and took the rear main bearing cap off to look 
for blockage. I also pulled the plugs on the oil passages.  Anyway, 
with a few well placed blasts of air out shot a little aluminum 
pellet (about .25 inches in diameter) which was lodged in the oil 
passage which fed the rear main and cam. 

I couldn't believe it, how it got there I dont know, but I remember 
seeing a warning about a plug in the gasket set I bought from felpro. 
Anyway, I reassembled everything with a new cam, lifters, pushrods, 
and rocker assemblies (just to be sure) and the motor runs like new 
again.  

Man, I hate it when I have to learn the hard way, but its just that 
much better when its fixed.  

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