[ihc] Need help on valve clatter

["Tom Reed" <treed@xxxxxxx>]

I've decided to tear into the engine (345) on the 71 Travelette. I've tried
synthetic oil, mystery oil and just about everything I could to think of to
quiet down a noisy valve. Here is the symptoms sometimes on startup it (just
one) clacks real bad and goes away when the engine warms up. Then there is a
softer clack that comes and goes during idle (worse) and running (better). 
 
The oil pressure is usually good, idles at 1/4 scale and runs at 1/2 scale
on the factory gauge. But sometimes the gauge drops to zero and the bad
clack reappears. The drop to zero is not rpm dependent and the other valves
don't clatter as I expect they would with no oil pressure.
 
I've got the valve cover off and while running it seems the noise comes from
#5 intake, but I'm not sure as the bad clack was not evident while running.
Valve cover is rather clean, all push rods rotate while running, some better
then others. Rockers are tight and all valve springs seem to have similar
tension.
 
I'm going to try running it again to see if I can diagnose it with the bad
clack. Anyone have any good ideas what it might be.
 

Tom Reed