VX 8 valve 1600 engine noise

[Tre7or]

Help please.....I have an 8valve 1600cc Vauxhall engine in my Caterham, when it is cold started there is a clicking noise from the cam casing that takes a few revs from the engine to make the clicking stop, then everthing is fine. This sounds like the hydrolic tappets are making the noise?? The engine is fresh with good compression, I fitted a race head recently and am using a GTE cam and the tappets are new.....can someone advise??

Also, when the car is reved hard the tappets seem to hydrolic/stop working and the engine looses power for a few seconds then when the oil comes back to the tappets everything is fine??

Trevor

[Mr Locust]

Startup tapping for a couple of seconds was always present on my Mk1 Astra so it sounds like a featue rather than a fault.

 

Are you confident that there is sufficient oil in the engine to maintain oil supply at high revs? Does the oil pressure remain constant? Is it the preferred oil?

 

Ian

 

Green and Silver Roadsport 😬

[Mike Biddle]

Start up noise was normal on my 16V VX.

 

Also had the noisy tappet problem after giving it a good pasting. What happens is that the oil gets air bubbles entrained in it due to the crank dipping into it in a wet sump which is shallower on a seven than on the original Vauxhaul version.

 

Carefull oil level checking can help, too much oil is obviously not good, but if you intend to drive hard on the road or go on track then the only guaranteed answer is a dry sump system.