hotcam knocking

[jaredbeast]

I just put a stage 1 hotcam in my 400 because i though my decompresser was bad but it turned out to be my cam chain tensioner which I also replaced. I started it up after doing this and its knock LOUD from the top end. Before when the tensioner was bad it only ticked a little at idle and the sound of the exhaust drowned it out when i revved it. Now it is knocking loud and if I rev it a little it gets louder. Obviously I did something wrong on the cam install but i don't know what. I removed the little pin and spring from the head so thats not it. My main concern is the fact that I could not get the cam timing dead on. One tooth was to far one way and the next tooth was to far the other way so i just set it to the closer of the two. I think that was probably a stupid idea but how would i get it dead on? Any help on this situation would be greatly appreciated.

[250x_kyle]

your valve clearences may be off.

yes check your valves but the hotcam will make it knock louder no matter what. Like a ticking noise.

[REDRIDDER]

whe you use a hot cam they recomend not using the decompressor unit,do you still have yours in?

[jaredbeast]

decompresser was left on the old cam and the pin aand spring were removed from the head. I just noticed the valve lash should be .13 and .15 on the new cam and the book says .10 and .12 is the stock spec. Could this be the cause and if so did I hurt anything by only starting it?

[XXXRACER165]

When I put my Hot Cam in, I had to grind a little groove in the cyl. head where one of the lobes spun because the lobes were so big. Check that. And for the timing, I had the same problem. The line in front of the engine goes up just a little.

[dariusld]

Did you replace the two cam gear bolts with new ones? And did you Lock-tite em?

always check your work and be areful with the bolts. one of the bolts rattled out when my brother was riding and it fell down grinded up the insides of the motor, snapped the timing chain and he has to replace that side of the motor. Then the cam broke his valves and the one valve flipped around and went straight through the piston and melted in it. Cams even blow up snomobiles just be careful.

[Sparky_20]

you need to get your cam timing on for sure. You dont want any piston to valve contact. You probably didnt hurt anything starting it up with the wrong valve clearances, just set them to the reccomended spec before you run it again. I just put in a stage 1 myself and it is noisy, just get used to it

[GOTFEAR]

i have this hapen a few times sounds like a disal your cam chain could be a touth off

[CarGuy7a]

also, did you put a new head cover gasket on? it may have squashed more causing the head cover to actually be closer to the cam then it was.

and if you say you couldn't get the cam timing spot on. i would say you have a stretched cam chain. the timing being off could make it knock.

[1965 honda]

i had the same problem everyone said it was my cam chain or tensioner or some other bull. YOUR valves are out of adjustment.
you can go to the web site were your cam is from and check what the clearences are. mine are set at .005 intake .006 exhaust.