Pinto Car Club of America

'75 Pinto 2.3l, when it gets a lil chilly outside like 60 degrees or cooler the car will develop a ticking noise like a lifter or something valvetrain related off and on. It comes and goes while driving and wont do it idling but going down the road it will come in very lightly then get louder then go away again. When its nice outside it wont do it though.   ???

I thought it may have been a lazy lifter or something and put a half quart of tranny fluid in the oil for about 1000 miles to help break up any sludge and it got a lot better but still does it. Also I tried putting a piece of cardboard in front of the radiator to help bring up the operating temp to see if that helped since it seemed to only do it when cold outside and no dice.

sounds like a lifter

I love these.....!!!!!!!! Here is my guess. It is excessive piston to wall clearence on one of those cylinders. It is piston slap. And the reason it only does it when the weather gets cooler is because the air gets thicker when the weather gets cooler increasing the compression...in this case enough to aggravate a situation. How was the car last winter??? Did you drive it all summer??? This guess was based on you saying ticking.
Pull the sparkies and look for a difference in color. The ticker will burn a bit darker.
I will say this...If you put the cardboard over the carb...the ticking will definitly go away.


                                                  Serious with a little humor_Horse

                                                                                           

Try these low cost changes, it can't hurt. 
1)  Try using the next higher octane fuel.  examples:  If you are using 87, try 89.  If you are using 89, use 91.   You may find that the next higher octane nets you more power & gas mileage to pay for the higher gas cost.
2)  Unplug your EGR valve and plug the vacuum line. 
3)  Change oil & filter.  Try 10W-30 for the cooler temperatures.