bad engine noise

i started my 77 up the other day and had a bad engine noise.it almost sounds like a lifter but louder,i dont think its a rod.its my wifes car so it aint run hard infact it only has 4300 miles ona rebuild.any help is appriciated

John, a good place to satrt would to remove the valve cover, and go thru the valve lash, I would do this with a cold engine, no need to warm it up and damage it further. What you would looking for is something grossly out of whack, if you have valve lash a few thousands off where it should be, then no big deal, but if you see valve that got a .100" of lash or something horrible, then you've got a problem, maybe a damaged lifter and/or a wiped cam lobe, this is why I preach hardened cams and lifters on my rebuilds, and won't use anything but. While you in there looking at the valve train you might , pull the coil wire and hit the starter to see it anything looks wrong in valve train, broken valve spring, bent valve etc., if all that llooks ok, then you have to start to believe the probelm could very be in the bottom end. Most of the time, but not all of time, the most common bottom end failure is a turned/spun rod bearing, this will give you a knock that will normally increase in noise as the rpms are rose, it could be the rod housing bores were egg shaped and don't hold the bearing good and let the bearing turn, this why it's a good idea to have the rods re-sized when rebuilding and maybe all this was done when it was rebuilt anyway, it could be a part failure, like a bad bearing. You can buy cheap mechanic's stethascope at Harbor Freight and that could help you isolate the noise in the engine, I even used a piece of wood or a old cut-off broom stick before,if you can hear where the noise is the loudest from that will aid you in determning what the problem is. Hope this helps, good luck

It's hard to say without sranding over the engine ,but it sounds like rod bearings to me. Was the crank turned and the big end of the rods worked? Does the noise go away as the oil pressure comes up? If it was one of my engines I would tow it in and check it out.

Intake manifold bolts loose and the gasket leaking sort of sounds this way. Get the carb cleaner out and start hunting.

It was the ones that require the removal of the carbs to access that were loose the first time. The spacer the second.

Hope that is it.

Larry

Ihe most important question is did you build the motor or did you have it built. If the answer is had it built then don't touch anything. Call the shop that built it and have it towed in. If you built it you may still want a pro to look at it.