E-Swan

I recently bought a 1999 Camaro SS and about a week after I bought it I began hearing a clicking noise. The guy I bought it from is an auto technician and did some modifications to it about a month before I got it. His wife was forcing him to sell it since there was a baby on the way and plans were changing and such. He told me there was an exhaust leak after he installed the headers, so he took it into the shop and had them replace the head/header gaskets. When I bought the car, I could hardly smell it, but it is quite significant now. Also, there is a clicking/rattling noise that has slowly gotten louder. There are no miss-fires and it drives fine. I know modded ls1's tend to make extra noise, but I think the exhaust leak is a result of this. One of my friends said maybe a header bolt has loosened and that is causing the rattling and exhaust leak? Any help would be much appreciated!

Here is a list of all the mods so far:

K&N filter
ls-6 intake
patriot 660 lift springs with titanium retainers and keepers
manly push rods
lunati f1 cam with 227/228 duration .595/.598 lift with 112 lobe seperation
obx stainless steel longtube headers and Y pipe
magnaflow cat back exhaust
3600 yank stall
B&M trans cooler
3.73 gm gears in rear end(just rebuilt)
eibach pro lowering springs 1 1/4 inch

The car has 56k miles on it with an automatic transmission just as an fyi.

nick.celis

iTrader: (11)

Check the header bolts then, see if they are tightened. then check down by the collectors.

Mike96z

iTrader: (78)

header bolts shake loose very often, may need some loc-tite on them. a small ticking is an exhaust leak, make sure your using the stock steel gaskets that seal and not the paper type.

zamora7

iTrader: (4)

The clicking noise may also be coming from a loose spark plug wire or from the same exhaust leak.

E-Swan

Ok, so I went through and tightened all the header bolts as well as the collectors, but the clicking is still there. The exhaust leak seems less potent though! I didn't check the spark plugs, so I'll mess with those a bit tomorrow. What about my lifters? Do those tend to make clicking noises?

TRANSdAMn 2k

iTrader: (1)

That definitely sounds like an exhaust leak man. I would try your best to narrow down exactly where it's coming from(driver/pass and header/collectors) and go from there.

gl

ws6killer

iTrader: (4)

Idk if i would locktite into an aluminum head!

Quick

Header gasket or a lifter.

zamora7

iTrader: (4)

A lifter would be more like a tapping noise and wouldn't fade if you tighten your exhaust. That being said I would lean towards being an exhaust leak.

DAVE00

iTrader: (10)

+1 - NEVER NEVER NEVER put loctite onto an exhause bolt going into aluminum. That is the best way to fuse it there forever. You can always use some stage 8 locking bolts to keep em in place once you have them tightened down.

Bad Chad

iTrader: (94)

If he used the cheap paper header gaskets when he installed the exhaust then you need to throw them in the trash and buy steel ones. Like someone mentioned already, Check the spark plug boots. Make sure that are all the way on the plugs... Start the car at night and look at the plugs to see if you can see and arching from the boots to the headers.