i have a 83 shovel head that has a valve knock that can be heard over the engine when it is cold and idling, it goes away after about a minute or two. i used a stephescope and it sounds like it's coming from the front exhaust valve. the previous owner told me that it has solid lifters in it. is it normal for solid lifters to make this noise or do i have something more serious to worry about? btw the bike runs great, thanks in advance.

 

A guess is nothing more than a guess...

Only one way to be sure. Pop it open and have a look. Could be anything from carbon buildup, to a loose valve guide/seat, or just need an adjustment to the tappet.

You might also post this in the sportster section. Probably some guys there with much more knowledge specific to sporties...

 

You can "hear" solids more than hydros. Is this more noisy than normal?
Solid lifters require more attention to push rod adjustment.

 

might also be piston slap, sounds kind of tinny. if it does have solids, might be time to adjust them.

 

It ain't a Sportster, he said Shovelhead. Yer gonna give Twizted a heart attack!

At any rate...the quickest way to determine if you have an issue is check the pushrods. A loose one on a solid lifter can chatter quite a bit.

 

LOL! Dayum! Caught asleep on the job again! My bad!
I bet I was readin a thread about a sporty before this one... Yeh, that's my story!

 

thanks for the advice. i took the head off today and didn't find an obvious cause for the knocking. i checked the endplay on the rockers and they both where well within specs. i looked for places with metal to metal contact and couldn't find any. i think at this point i will take the head and rockers to the shop and have the valve guides and rocker bushings checked out.

 

Naw that just gets a face palm and the headshake

OP hit up Youtube and look around for a vid on adjusting solid lifters , they do loosen up . Another thing if it stays noisy is pop the front lifter block and check the tappet rollers .

 

i adjusted and rechecked the pushrods, at one point i even over adjusted them by a little and the knocking was still there. i will pull the lifter block tonight and check it out. when i used the mechanics stephescope i could hear that the knock was coming from the head right above the exhaust valve if that helps any.

 

A lot of rocker arm end play particularly on that front exhaust can make noise and the later years had a lot from the factory . Then again the valve train noise travels bad from the cam up in these old beasts .