Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech How to reduce tappet noise

If I ever sell my bike (highly unlikely) it will be because is sounds like it has a perpetual valve tap when hot. Have owned this technology before so know it ain't broke but:

Any way to quiet that down? Other than mask it with louder pipes that is. No I don't need shims by the way its the normal ticking I hate.

Nope.
You could try to minimize the noise by

* Using synthetic oil.
* Adjusting the valves to the lower side of the ranges.


If your dealer adjusted the valves, chances are they are not adjusted correctly, no matter what they told you. To get the quietest valves you have to adjust them yourself.

Get louder pipes?

Soren

Wow, never thought of that Soren! lol

Yeah, I don't think its fixable just the nature of the beast.

I agree on the tapping noise, but it is nothing compared with a Ducati. A Duc sounds like someone shaking an enormous bag of metal bolts. I also prefer the noise to most Harleys which feel like they are going to vibrate apart at idle.

(at least to me)

One thing that will quiet them is valvoline bike oil. Forgot the exact name, but it's available at autozone. I read that it quiets the engine here at this forum in fact. Tried it and sure enough it did quiet it down. Valve tapping was probably 1/2 as loud at startup. But to be honest i'm not sure if it was much quieter once warm, but definatly quieter when started and for the first few miles anyway. the reason i can't say for sure if it's quiet after it warms up is because i thought i noticed it getting louder as it warmed up. But i wasn't sure because i was too busy noticing how much slower the bike accellerated ! Yes, it made a considerable difference in that regard which prompted me to dump this new oil and go back to Mobil Vtwin immediatly. I guess it's the lack of slickness, as this stuff is dino oil. In any case the Vtwin oil makes the bike run very noticably quicker, the valvoline makes it run quieter. if you're willing to make that trade i'd say is a lot quieter when cold and possibly a bit quieter when warm. But when warmed up for say 20 miles it may be as noisy at that point. I just can't say. STP might help too, tho i don't know if that stuff is good for the bike.

I showed a friend my new tall risers from Brent(see my new photo gallery). And he says "those aren't rubber isolated, you're going to feel alot of vibration". I told him it's not a Harley-Davidson(he has one), it doesn't vibrate. Charlie

Here's a germ of an idea, I'll leave it to the gallery to flesh it out.....

I would imagine the noise is amplified by the hollow space and the thin construction of the cam cover.
If a dampening material could be found that wouldn't melt, disintegrate, or dissolve in hot oil, it could be applied to the underside of the cover to muffle the noise.

Talk amongst yourselves.....

The cam cover is the problem but dampening or using a heavy material may be bad for heat exchange. It is a thought. Hey brent! make me heavy cam covers. Oh, and chrome them while you are there.

Definitely an interesting idea! I think heat exchange could be an issue, and I wanna say it doesn't take much to melt lead, but I'm not sure. So we need a material with low weight, high melting temp, noise insulation, but good heat transfer.

How bout we just make it out of unobtainium?

I would imagine, (I'm not an engineer) that some sound dampening could be accomplished if a wire mesh or perhaps some perforated metal (like on an oil filter element) could be tacked to the underside. It shouldn't affect heat transfer, I wouldn't think. Perhaps a layer of filter media under the added metal would work even better.

Just some ideas from my addled mind.....

Piston slap, anyone? Sounds like it to me......

IF that happens to be the case, the obvious fix is a Wiseco big bore kit.

Its tappet noise Dean. Exactly the same noise you used to get with the inline 4 cylinders of the 70s and 80s.

That's exactly what I was hoping for in my '93 Geo Tracker 4 cyl., which happens to have an aluminum (non-sleeved) bore. Alas, it's the pistons, their knees knocking like a junior high boy at his first sweetheart kiss....

After serious reconsideration, and rereading this thread, what Moe said:

* Adjusting the valves to the lower side of the ranges.

My info is the intakes at .006" (.15mm)
and the exhausts at .010" (.25mm)
for the minimums.

Good hunting on a solution to your problem, Ron!

Adjust the valves...
Mine were way off after only 4K
Did them on the lo side, now sounds like they are roll instead of clanging. Triumphs are noisy by nature, but still should sound smooth.

I use Valvoline wet clutch motorcycle oil (NAPA $3.60 a Quart 10W-40) & swear by it!
I always add half quart of Lucas Synthetic Oil Stabilizer (any auto store) $8.00 Quart.
Reason: I took a motorcycle top end apart after sitting all winter & the Lucas was still up in the top end stuck to everything! No dry starts & less noise as well.
Since then, Lucas is added to all of my vehicles every oil change.

Read more Link:
http://www.lucasoil.com/

Member
G@ry J@mes