Okay Valves are singing away...Need help

[NEED4BOOST]

***Please read***........sorry for the length just trying to give as much detail as possible.

Okay guys I've had my s14 SR in my car and running strong for about 3.5 months. I have only driven it for a total of 1,600 miles!

In mid september I went to VIR to run the car and work out some bugs (suspension, and driveability). Anyway at the end of the weekend I ran into the biggest problem and that was an exhaust leak that ended my fun for the weekend. I pulled of track and slowly drove the car back to the trailer and checked everything, let the turbo cool, and packed up the car and got ready to go home.

Well the next weekend I limped the car over to my buddies house which is 3 miles from mine so that we can work on the car and find out where in the hell the exhaust was leaking. The exhaust was leaking right where the manifold bolts up to the turbo. The gasket was blown. We tried to tighten what we could reach until the gasket kit came in. After we finished I drove the car back home (with the exhaust leak) and half way to my place I began to here the valves, not too loud because I was keeping the revs under 2000rpms. So I assumed that they were just noticeable because the exhaust leak.

The car sat for a little over a week and then last night was the first time I fired her up and got ready to drive it to my buddies house so that we can put the gaskets on. Well when I fired up the car the valves chattered for a couple of seconds and then got quiet. When I drove it I heard them like before.

Took off the manifold, turbo, etc and put everything back together, fresh oil and coolant/water. Built up oil pressure to circulate to the turbo and the rest of the block. Pluggged in the ignitor chip and fired up the car. No valve chatter but the when the motor revs to 1200rpms you could here them. I let the car run for a few minutes. Drove it around for a little bit to see whats up. Boosts fine (boost controller turned off), no hard pulls or anything. But I could here the valves but not as bad as sitting and reving in nuetral. After a couple of minutes of driving and getting to my place, I decided to rev the motor in nuetral. The valves didn't chatter until 2k rpms.

I don't understand whats going on. Could it be that these valves are self adjusting? Do my valves have to be tightened/ retorqued? Or is the valvetrain shot?

As always, thanks guys.....

[quiksilvia]

well i know that the s13sr has hydraulic valve lifters, but could that be the sound of a floating rocker arm?

[I am Technoman]

Take off the valve cover see what going on inside. Do a compression test. Valve leak down test.

[SpeedRacer1]

What makes you so sure its the valves? Could be the chain guide atop the head, its the main source of noise on KA's and I removed mine awhile back because of the terrible sound it made on my SR. The hydraulic lifters/lash adjustors would be my second area in question, since they have a tendancy to make a clicking noise when they get old or are installed improperly.

[NEED4BOOST]

What makes you so sure its the valves? Could be the chain guide atop the head, its the main source of noise on KA's and I removed mine awhile back because of the terrible sound it made on my SR.

But it sounds like the valves and it sounds like it's coming mostly from the back. Lets assume that it's the chain guide....what makes it sound like that and what could go wrong because of having that guide taken off?

Thanks........

[SpeedRacer1]

The timing chain becoming slack because it is getting old is what causes the chain guide sound. I have had my guide off for a few months now without any issues, it might present a problem if you are at high RPM's constantly because the chain *could* slip a tooth and timing could get off. But I have never heard of that happening. Nevertheless, it takes like 10 minutes to remove and if its not the problem then you can put it back on.

My previous SR had a valve ticking. Valve ticking is usually attributed to hydraulic valve lifters before anything else.

[quiksilvia]

if air gets in the lifters, being installed wrong, they make noise.

[vangj]

Open the valve cover and see if there is anything broken inside. Maybe a rocker arm might even be broken.