Pinto Car Club of America

I have a 77 bobcat with a 2.8 in it. while running, I can hear what sounds like metal to metal contact. its not consistent enough to be a rod bearing, and it seems to be comming from the top part of the engine. it has the aluminum cam gear, and about 10,000 on new head gaskets. what could it be?

krazi

hmm, mine is a 75 and i seem to have the same issue, but i have more than 300-400k on the motor. im not even sure what it is.

I believe these engines had mechanical lifters.   So regular valve adjustments are required. 
Have you performed a valve adjustment recently?   I would suggest you do that and inspect everything at the same time. 
With solid lifters a little top end ticking is acceptable. 

yeah did the valves when i replaced the valve cover gaskets. figured that i would get that done since i had to take em off anyways. so i really cant orient where the noise comes from.