[JD159]

Called my mechanic. He wants to have a listen to it. Will bring it to him next week. This may help with diagnosis, but considering what I am capable of, I dont want to pay for labor that I can do.

The idea of a weak valve spring makes a bit of sense. They were all inspected by Lindsey racing about 15k miles ago, but when I damaged a lobe and lifter it may of weakened a spring. The aggressive cam also will strain them more, but Lindsey said the increase lift not necessitate a stronger spring.

So, if I do have a weak valve spring, how can I go about testing or measuring the spring and its tension, individually, without removing the head from the car?

I really would rather not take the head off. I just put it back on. But I can get the cams and lifters out easy.

Any suggestions?? The noise is too severe to ignore, I'll shatter a lifter and wreck the lobe if I leave it.

Rhett, I fit 6 new lifters. I know I didn't miss the one making the noise. Also none of the lifters I removed were soft. I changed them based on lifter noise AFTER the engine has gotten hot. I was thinking leakdown inside the lifter bore causing it to bleed out when temperatures increased.

I didn't have the noise for a few days of hard driving after re assembly. Is it possible that because the cams were removed for a month, without the tension on the spring, it regained some of its tension and stayed quiet for a few days. Then, after a few days of having the pressure of the cams back on the spring, it resumed its weakened position and caused noise???