valve keeps ticking

I just finished changing my valve seals on my 80 firebird.. I adjusted the rockers and drove for a while...was about 1 week and than I got a tick....I remove valve cover adjusted valves and was good...than 1 day later again...adjusted.....ticked after 5 mins of driving...it is all on the drivers side and not sure if it is the same one....when I remove valve cover I back off till I hear it tick loud than turn in and do this till I find the right one....I think it is the 3rd and or 4th one back....I have a big cam and roller rockers....but I have been running this engine for some time and never had a problem....I am thinking the studs are starting to come out, they are pressed in.....now my question is....1. how do I pull these studs out ? 2. can I just tap the holes while heads are installed on car or do I have to remove them and send them to machine shop?

Ok...I have been doing a lot of reading here after writing this post. I read to check with a strait edge and see if any studs are sticking out farther than the others....well I have 4 that are up quite a bit higher than the others....strange thing is the valve that was ticking was the 5th one from the front and it seems to be seated quite deep in...it wasnt one that was raised....but that valve was the same one I tightened down earlier today and started to tick with in a few mins of driving....I now tighted it down and went for a 15 min drive and no tick :)...so far so good.......question is...is it possible that the studs were never pressed in the same length from the start? Because I am not really in the mood to rip my heads off to put in screw in studs...

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Originally posted by stuccoman
Ok...I have been doing a lot of reading here after writing this post. I read to check with a strait edge and see if any studs are sticking out farther than the others....well I have 4 that are up quite a bit higher than the others....strange thing is the valve that was ticking was the 5th one from the front and it seems to be seated quite deep in...it wasnt one that was raised....but that valve was the same one I tightened down earlier today and started to tick with in a few mins of driving....I now tighted it down and went for a 15 min drive and no tick :)...so far so good.......question is...is it possible that the studs were never pressed in the same length from the start? Because I am not really in the mood to rip my heads off to put in screw in studs...

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If the stud on the ticking valve isn't the problem it may be the adj. nut is worn and is backing off after you adjust it. A new one should fix the problem. I'd replace all the adj. nuts as long as I had it apart. If one is bad other may follow.

Less likely but, if it's neither the stud or the adj. nut, then it may be bad news. (Lifter or cam).

thanks pro70....I will give that a try...cheap fix...I like that....it hasnt ticked all day, so I will wait till it ticks again than replace the nut.
thanks again

I got a tick not long after driving again.....I dug up another nut I had....went to change it...I checked the rocker also ..everything seemed fine...till I pulled the push rod out....it was bent and the ends were broken...one side looked really good and chewed up and the other was slightly chewed up.....I am thinking that the rod got chewed up from me going tighter and tighter every time it ticked....I changed the push rod and I havnt had any problem since....mind you its only been out for a 15 km run.....but I think I should invest in a new quality set of push rods.....I am just wondering what would have caused the rod to bend in the first place? It first started to tick( I suspect thats when it bent) when I was running it hard checking out my 1/4 mile time. If I over rev'd it could that have done it????
thanks
Geoff