TopEnd Noise, *not valve adj.*

[r-exrider0003]

recently put on a different head(ported) on my 426. now its making alot of topend knocking/klinking noises. sounds kinda like an exhaust leak would, but its not exhaust. i thought it might be in need of a valve adjustment, it was, but it proceded to continue being noisey afterwords. any ideas?

[416exfreak]

Does it have the stock valvetrain, or aftermarket rockers, valves, etc?

And does it have the stock cam?

You might have adjusted them to the wrong adjustment.:p

Check and be sure your lash and the other word I forgot are correct.

[r-exrider0003]

ah yeah my bad, probably should have said more about it. stock rockers, valves, and pretty well only thing isnt stock is the cam. its a hotcam stage II, i know hot cams are known to be noisy but how noisy? sorry this question is a bit vague, as it could be about anything, just looking for some ideas. prolly pull the whole rocker arm assembly off this weekend any how

[lorenjr83]

My stage 2 hotcam was noisy at during break in, but after that and a valve adjustment its nice and quite

[the Z Man]

Are you sure its not the head gasket? you may have stretched your studs a little.

[r-exrider0003]

head gasket? ahhhh. how would i know? is it still goin to be rideable, or is another tear down inorder?

[the Z Man]

When the headbolts stretch the head gasket has a tendancy to leak, sounds like an exhaust leak, its still ridable but you can probly damage the head after awhile, pull the valve cover and recheck your torques on the head, mine was a front one..

[r-exrider0003]

ahhh well id have to take all the top end off to replace it wouldnt i? or could i just do it from underneath the rocker cover? you lose alot of power with it? any more signs?

[krt400ex]

could be pinging...the cam would add to the noise also.

wut kind of fuel you running?

[r-exrider0003]

eh the noise isnt pinging. im running a bit lower octane, but its a bit noiser than it should be for that.
ive been looking and found like 3 diff valve adjustment specs for HotCam St. 2, what do you guys use? i did have it adjusted to stock ( forgot about the difference), would that had made it very loud and noisey? any other details on blown head gasket, ive gota stripped out bolt on the topend, woudl that cause any of this?

[m36indiana]

hope you used an oversize head gasket. i used a stock one on my 426, the piston was slapping the head gasket, had to go with a 440 gaket, everything worked fine then

[GPracer2500]

Maybe try unbolting the top engine mount (the one that runs through the valve cover) and see if that makes a difference. Perhaps there's a minor alignment issue that's applying a force to the valve cover. If that doesn't help, maybe try unbolting the valve cover and reinstalling it. Again, I'm thinking a tiny alignment issue might be the source of the issue.

Just trying to think of ideas to try.

[400exBRAAP]

the copper exhaust crush gaskets could be bad... did ya use new ones? if not, that could be the culprit

[r-exrider0003]

ive read around and im hoping it might just be a stretched cam chain. i orderd a 04 crf 450 cam chain that should be in soon. that is the correct year? also how would i know if the camchain tensioner is functioning okay? thanks again

[Honda#4]

02 is the correct year.

[r-exrider0003]

so 04 will not work?:mad: arrrrrgh. what all years will

[Honda#4]

I've always read to use a 02 chain but I just got off of planethondaracing and looked the two up they both have 112 links so I guess to me both would work unless the 04 is longer or something but I would get a second opinion first.

[biff rider#19]

i had the same problem with my 440 and later discoverd that the cam chain was shot causing two chain adjusters to break springs
check your adjuster

[r-exrider0003]

well, finally got it back together with the CRF camchain. still noisey. maybe a tad bit quiter but still louder than i think it should be. any ideas? Also. can someone please tell me what i should adjust my valves to for a Hotcam Stage 2, its the original one i think, as it was put in prolly around 04 or 05 i think. ive looked around, but seen a few diff #'s thanks