74 TR6 ticking engine

[Swifty75]

Hi All

i have a TR6 that is showing 47000 miles, but have no clue what mileage the engine has done, or if it has ever been rebuilt etc. I have owned it for nearly 2 years and have done 5500 miles, including 700 on the recent C2C. It runs well has decent power and feels responsive. However there is a tick that sounds tappety, it has had this since I got it I have reset the valve clearances three times and the last 2 served to show that I’d got it right the first time. It has good oil pressure and compression and does not use much oil. I have been around the engine with a long screwdriver holding it to my ear and various components. If I was pointing to anywhere it would be the intake manifold, however that could be the pulsing of the injectors? I have tightened the exhaust manifold and there appears to be no exhaust gas escape causing a tick in this area. The only other area of concern is one of the spark plug threads is a bit loose and there is evidence of gas escape on the threads. I have tightened it gives no change to the tick.

As I say it’s running well, and I have done the usual checks. Is there anything simple I am missing?

Thanks in advance

Neil

[Wendy Dawes]

Maybe a cam follower, Darren has the same issue on his Dolomite 

[Batch]

Neil,

Does the ticking noise rise and fall with the engine speed, or does it vary with road speed?

 I have a TR6 which when it ran on the Lucas PI had a noisy metering unit until I had it refurbished, this could be another source of your noise. 

Dave

[Swifty75]

Thanks Wendy and Dave.

I was reading about Darren and marmite and thought it could be similar. Although I want to avoid stripping it down as it’s running well!
Dave it is definitely engine related as it goes up with the revs, not the speed of the vehicle. 
I might come to my local group meeting and let others listen and see what they think. Although I’m kind of in the middle of a few groups in Sheffield.

[daver clasper]

If any of the rocker pads have a wear area from the valve tips (which seems to be common), then valve clearance wont be accurate if set with feelers and will be too large.

If say an old 5 thou old is used between rocker and valve tip with the engine idling, then this often will quieten down any too large a clearance on individual valves  .

There are ways to set more accurately if your interested

Edited September 21, 2023 by daver clasper