Valve train tick that changes with timing.

[Gatorhator98]

I just rebuilt the 350 that was in my 84. The heads have all the same stock parts that were there before. The cam is a stock style cam with stock pushrods. It was just kind of a budget rebuild type kit from Northern. We broke it in running 2200 for 20 mins with rotella 15/40 and Lucas break in with all vacum hose disconnected and plugged. We got it fired right up with a little throttle but wouldn't idle and after break in still wouldn't. It had a pretty noticeable tick, then after checking the timing it was way retarted. So I brought it up to about 8 and it idled fine and the tick got much quieter and shorter in duration. While turning the distributor you can hear the tick get louder and more drawn out as you retard it. Is this typical of a lifter/valve train tick or is it something like an exhaust valve not sealing great. The rockers have all been reajusted several times and headers tightened and gasket replaced. The tick is still there and sound like its from number 1
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[Gatorhator98]

Would this be better suited in a different section. New to the forum posting, let me know if I'm doing something wrong. I've spent hours searching for a similar issue description and haven't found anything so I figured I'd finally register and post to a forum. Any info is much appreciated. Thanks

[geezer#99]

Post a video.

[Dead Parrot]

My first thought was an exhaust leak. Perhaps from the exhaust manifold/head not sealing properly.

[Gatorhator98]

My first thought was exhaust leak too. I have a really thick gasket in there and some Allen head bolts so I could get them a lot tighter than the old bolts since I had to use an open end wrench because the old bolts were so close to the pipes. I haven't had time to mess with it as we're going hard putting corn in the ground. I'll try to get a video of how the noise changes when I retard the timing.