P1800 Engine Ticking Noise
 

My P1800 engine is all tuned up, tappets, carbs, ignition timing, dwell angle all to the green manual and runs quite well. I say it runs well but to me, newcomer to this particular engine type, it has a vague fluttering feeling compared to say a bmc engine. Plenty of smooth delivery of power but, not easy to describe, it has a vague feel and sound of a flutter.

Also, present all the time is a background ticking sound which reminds me of a tractor. It is related to engine revs but sounds more like cam speed to me.

So, I've listened to endless videos on the 'tube' and the ones refererring to timing gear sound much worse than mine, but the tick is very similar.

What is the received wisdom on this? Could this be the begining of the timing gear problem even though the engine has done less than 40K since new.

One more 'clue', possibly, is that at tickover the timing light shows the timing point jumping about a bit. Just a few degrees here and there. Once the revs are increased it settles down and advanced smoothly. The distributer is good, it is not slack and sloppy.

Any views?

All Bran
 

Worn fibre timing gear? Easy job.

That is what I suspect too. When you say easy job, do I need special tools? WIll a standard 2 or 3 leg puller do to get the gears off?

Oh, and is there a good write up on doing it, like Ron's ignition stuff?

Check for an exhaust manifold leak first. Often one of the manifold bolts have been left out.
Typically one of the back ones.
Sometimes a ticking sound explanation turns out to be the tappets. These tend to be a little tickety.
Russ

Thanks Russ, I did check the manifold for leaks as I'm sure it could make the same sort of ticking if one pot is puffing down a leak but all seems fine.

I keep meaning to do the 'watch the distributor rotor and rock the crank back and forth' test but I haven't got round to it yet. I'll definitely do it this week though.

I used a simple and really effective trick to chase down exhaust leaks on my old Merc..I used a small sprayer to wet the manifold and joins with a washing up liquid and water solution, and then put my garage vac in the exhaust set to blow. I put a rag around the hose to make a good seal. The exhaust leaks, if you have any, are immediately obvious..it works really well.

Ok my 10 penneth.
A metalic click could be one of the cam lifters sticking...it was on my car.
Best way is a cheap stethoscope to pinpoint where the noise is from