valve ticking

[BammBamm]

I will try to summarize what going on. I installed an 1800 head that had a sticky valve on exhaust 3. The valve rounded out my cam. Fortunately I had another cam. I pulled the head and lapped the vale stem and guide until it moved as smoothly as the rest of the valves. I installed a different intake and exhaust cam since the other ones I had were nicer. Of course I had to re-shim all the valve. Im waiting on some shims from AR but none were more than .05mm. The ticking seems to be coming from the intake side and it might go away when i re-shim. Here is the strange part. I can hear the ticking when under acceleration but it fades in and out while at idle. It runs real quite and smooth and then fades in with ticking and fades out. No change in idle rpm and vibration.. Any ideas?

[BammBamm]

SO I have installed all the new valve shims and all valve gaps are set as .45mm on exhuast and .35mm on intake. The ticking is still there as it fades in and out at idle and i hear it during higher revs. It is not there when the engine is cold. It really does sound some like excessive gap. Im thinking of getting a stethoscope to try and determine exactly which valve it is. ANy other suggestions? The engine is running great though.

[RRoller123]

It should be worse when the engine is cold, so there is likely another source, maybe the front crank pulley is ticking on the timing indicator, or the spacer at the bottom of the timing cover is missing, and the cover is nicking the pulley. Or maybe a water pump bearing, etc. A stethoscope would help find the source, and easily identified if it is under a valve cover.

[seabeelt]

Where did you get those numbers from??? If memory serves, Intake is .017 and exhaust is .019. Sounds like your clearances are too large unless those mm clearances relate to the inch ones here
r/

[KevAndAndi]

According to my notes, the valve clearance for a Spider 2000 should be:

Intake: 0.015" to 0.018" (0.38mm to 0.48mm).
Exhaust: 0.017" to 0.019" (0.43mm to 0.48mm).

This was taken from the IAP website before they decided to forsake Fiat.

My notes also show the following recommendation from Brad Artigue:

Intake: 0.45mm.
Exhaust: 0.50mm.

I welcome any corrections, as I have to check my valve clearances.

Addendum: I now see that the head in question is an 1800. Perhaps that has different clearances.

[BammBamm]

It is definately the valves that are ticking and not a pulley. Im not running belt covers. In my many searches for this information I have found .35-.40 for intake and .45-.50 for exhaust. I just went to the tighter number. Im willing to try .45mm and .50mm unless anyone suggests otherwise.