Alright. I have 2 things I'm concerned about. One thing I have been told "Is normal."

Upon any different rpm of any sort is a slight tick, it's not horrific, it's not menacing, but it's there. Seems better once the car is warmed up, but it's there, 3krpms and above it doesn't seem really all that audible. I'd relate it to the valve noise of my ninja 250 (little kawasaki motorcycle) which has a reputation for being "the world's loudest sewing machine" since they just make valve train noise. This tick/tap varies with rpm, making me believe this is a valve train sound as it does change with rpm.

Sometimes it makes it slightly more than other times. It doesn't really seem to be super loud at any given time. But especially when cold... i hear it. My wife is telling me "Sounds like a normal part of the running to me since it does it all the time and hasn't got worse." well maybe she's right.

However, to sooth my nerves.... can anyone here tell me, are these 1.7L engines just particularly noisy? I will note that this sound has been here since I bought the car. It does not seem to be horrific, again, it's "Just there" - and after the car runs on the highway at normal speed and warms up the sound is more of just background noise and I barely notice it. But during traffic, just normal running, lower rpms, colder, it's there and I go "IS that normal?"







Part 2... tonight.. I'm coming home. I'm in 2nd gear having just come from a stop going from 1st to 2nd. Something just "didn't sound right", best I can describe is that when I pushed in the clutch to get into 3rd I heard a whining noise (sounded similar to if you shifted into the gear wrong and it was grinding a synchro) - I brought the rpms back up and went into gear... sounded weird. Pushed in the clutch again, sound was there again. Finally I put it into neutral. Brought the rpms back up and let it drop, sound was GONE. I put it into 3rd, tried to reproduce the issue... nothing. Put it back into 2nd, did it again... NOTHING. Could not reproduce it.

My question is - is it possible to shift in these lazy transmissions at such a point that it is in gear and working but entered the gate wrong and something wasn't working right? And upon shifting into another gear or getting back "in place" it was a quirk?

The car is now parked in the garage and not going anywhere till I am able to determine if everything is okay.

Not been a great week for me mechanically.

- Thank you for all your time and at least reading over this.

The tick is likely your rocker arms hitting the Valve stems. You can't hear it above 3K because the engine noise drowns them out. I'd check valve lash just to be sure you are in spec, but its probably nothing.

As for the gears... are your shifter bushings fresh, or at least functional? if they are worn, you might have been shifting into the wrong point. Check the bushings, as they are cheap and pretty easy to fix if worn out. If you have never replaced them, you should assume them to be worn out, but look anyhow. Other then that, if you can't reproduce the sound, don't worry about it until you can reproduce the sound. Just drive it.

Zach

Like Zach said, the valve noise is normal. As the engine warms up, the metal expands and the valve to rocker clearance lessens, making it quieter. They might need to be adjusted. If you can't make the noise go away after a proper adjustment, you could have a loose valve seat.

your weird noise when shifting sounds like a throw out bearing going bad.
Tom

Bushings are fresh, Jim installed new ones. I inspected them to be on the safe side, they look great. I understand these transmissions are pretty odd to shift due to the sloppy long linkage, so I'm still getting used to this. So it sounds from what you are saying that I shifted it into the wrong point, it was in gear, but giving me some noise telling me "I don't belong here!" am I right?

Are you also saying that the tick is normal?




If the throwout bearing were bad wouldn't it be consistent? Last time I had a throwout bearing issue it was noticeable all the time. The clutch is also new, Jim installed a new clutch in the car not long before I bought it from him. He has a post on here about it. Not to say that it couldn't be, since things do go bad, even when new.





I did check the clearances and did adjust the valves. Many were loose. I also changed over to the brad penn oil. As to a loose valve seat, is this anything of concern I should be immediately looking into an/or replacing if this is indeed the issue?

The engine was rebuilt about 8000 miles ago, so I'm hoping I'm not going to have any issues. It is what it is.

Dude, you sound like me, worrying so much.
Go drive.

Your engine is 8000 miles old, your valves are adjusted, you are using good oil, have pressure, and your bushings are fresh. Go drive. Get used to the sounds your car makes - it is an old car, and is going to sound a lot different then a modern one. If that sounds starts to change, then look for stuff. But right now, just go out there and drive.

Zach

Lol yes, I do indeed worry. This week has been FULL of mechanical failure for me. I am not used to the sounds of an aircooled engine by any means so getting used to this stuff is very new to me.

This week I had:

- a shock failure on my Ninja 250.
- A hub nut back off on my ducati... resulting in no clutch and busting a master cyl and clutchless shifting my whole way home.
- The AFM on my 944 go out on me.
- Busted a light assembly on the 924 during fabrication. Not happy.
- Then "the sound" in my 914... worried me to death.
- Rewire part of the harness on the wife's zx2 due to massive corrosion issues she didn't tell me about, resulting in rewiring portions of the engine bay, numerous grounds, and cutting back into the hardness a good 2 ft to rewire. Yeeehaawwwww

So I'm a bit on edge with sounds and failures. I'm tired of fixing shit lol.

Old stuff just needs work. The more old stuff the more work. Maybe they all won't break at the same time.