I'm looking at a 63 XKE for purchase, there is a fairly loud valve tap type noise at idle both with a warm and cold engine, also the whole valve train seems a little noisey. How difficult is a valve adjustment
and are there any common engine problems that would that type noise?
Any help appreciated.
Thanks,
Karl Kritzer

Submitted by bonnettoboot@e… on Sat, 12/17/2011 - 22:36

Edited on 2011-12-17 22:42:44

Valve adjustment can be tricky and it"s unlikely to be normal adjustment unless someone did a poor job of it. The fact is, as the valve components wear the clearance diminishes ie it becomes less, as it does so it will NOT get louder it will get quieter. If there is NO VALVE NOISE that is a concern and cause for checking the clearances,that's why many rebuilders leave them a little wide to start with. Of course there a number of dynamics, there could be 1 valve very loose and all the others tight or vica verca. find out who worked on the head and see what was done.