360 c.i. lifter tick!?

[81 OLY.FSJ]

hello from seattle & thanks for reading! so, it starts like this,I believe my (stock)360 has a collapsed lifter spring or I should say that's what it sounds like to me. but i'm not completely convinced that's it. I hear this ticking under a load & it's excessive going up hills,but it doesn't do it cruising or idle. And I cannot hear it at all free rev or in park at idle. what throws me is it almost sounds like a vacumn leak or bad egr valve as I'm accelerating, but climbs to a certain "ticking" going up hills. also I was wondering how much damage I'm doing if my problem is in the valvetrain, driving in this condition , reason being I'm a snowboard instructor & committed to being in the mountains every week-end thanks again 81 OLY

[J4GRAND]

Look for exhaust leaks from the exhaust manifold also as these tend to get worse as the engine is under load and will cause a ticking sound. Also, make sure what your hearing is not "pinging"- predetonation of the fuel/air mixture that is very harmful to your engine. A timing adjust or higher octane gas can help cure this.

[81 OLY.FSJ]

hey j4grand, thanks for writing back. yeah,honestly I have a small leak at the heat riser so I guess I'll start there.have you changed that before?Is there only one gasket? Not one on each side of the riser? I'm assuming the "y" pipe has a ball & nuckle fitting or donut gasket ( can you tell I haven't had this apart yet) thanks again,81 leaky oly

[waggy401]

There should be one gasket between the manifold and heat riser, and a donut gasket between the heat riser and y-pipe. The shop that built my exhaust put in a heat riser with an integral donut gasket. They aren't very hard to change, but you usually have to take off both sides of the exhaust to do it. Otherwise the exhaust won't move enough. So, replace the gasket on the other side as well.

If you don't have time to do it yourself, any good muffler shop should be able to fix it fairly cheaply in less than half an hour.