OK, heres the story. I did what you would assume was a simple job which was replace the heater control valve on the Fifth Avenue, appart from the new valve sprung a leak (damn these made in mexico replacement parts) and dumped a load of the coolant on me. So I limped home and replaced the valve with a bit of pipe and now thats fine, no leaks.
however since my drive home (about half way up the temp gauge and with steam rising from the cowl vent) the motor has developed a nice loud tick from the driver side. I'm thinking lifter, but the valves appear to be opening & closing reasonably correctly as it runs smooth and no apparent problems apart from a loud once-per-rev kind of tick.
Suggestions?
Other than dump the thing in the canal and claim the insurance money on it?
could be the oil thinned with the heat affecting the lifter (presume they are hydraulic) in some way. One of mine ticks occasionally when it gets really hot.
My money is on Alex's suggestion - Alex and I lifted the Rocker Box on my 440+6 Cuda and it proved to be a header blow. It stacks up with the over-heating bit - a small amount of thermal expansion, etc, etc.
i'd say its exhaust too, pinkie does it well !! you'd be hard pushed to know which side it was coming from if it was a lifter, they're all pretty much down the middle !