This is sorta strange to me, I just got finished setting the timing on my 86z which was a bunch of junk because all I wanted to do was check the timing belt tensioner! So when I took the tensioner off, of course the timing went off. So anyways I set the timing, you know, jacking the car up, taking off the starter (only 2 bolts thank goodness) and wedged a socket into the flywheel so I could take the bolt off the other end of the cam shaft to remove the vibration dampener (harmonic balancer). So I set the markings on the 3 timing belt wheels (whatever their called) and commenced to putting it all back together. Ok, now my car idles a little lower, instead of 8-9 grand, its around 7-9 grand, so far. But whenever it goes over 15-1600 rpms it makes this sound that sounds like a muffled ting ting sound (not good with the lingo) however my car has more power than it ever has!!! could this be a sound that it should have made from the first time I bought it, or should I be cautious and do the process all over again? It wasnt fun, but I am glad I learned to do it. What would you all do?

 

first of all. i would rev the motor very high until you find out what the noise is. since youou did say you have more power than before it makes me think that you did everything right. the problem could just be that you have the timing too advanced which makes the engine ping. the same thing happened to me when i installed my crane cams ignition on my 240. you need a timing light. go to kragen and get if you dont already have one. there like 30-60 bucks. i say just get the 30 dollar one. hook it up and shine the light down there on the crank pulley and look for the white spec or groove in the crank pulley and then line it up with the degree marks on the block. i'm not sure what the stock timing is but look in you hanes manual. loosen the screw that enables you to turn the distributor and slowly turn the distributor until the timing reads 3-4 degrees more than the stock timing.

 

I MEANT DONT REV THE ENGINE HIGH UNTIL YOU KNOW WHAT THE PROBLEM IS!! SORRY I'M DUMB

 

Ok, I know exactly what it sounds like now, it sounds like a clock ticking really fast, like 4 or 5 ticks a second.

 

It only makes the noise past 1600RPM? as BleachZee already said I think its your valves but it should still make the sound at lowered ide speeds but just alittle quiter. I would say just check the valves and make sure they are all adjusted right and see what happens, most likely this is the problem.