Upgrade, now ticking.
 

Hello,

I've had a Jackson racing super charger installed some months ago. No issues. I decided I wanted more power, and got tomei equal length headers, front pipe, flex fuel kit for e85 by delicious tuning, Jackson racing oil cooler, and new fuel injectors. Car still needs a revised map for fuel timing by delicious, but overall it's drivable, and feels very fast with e85.

The problem is there is a small ticking sound which I can hear coming from the engine in the drivers seat, and outside. It's only there at 1k RPM or lower. The speed shop is going to look at it this week when they put the revised map on it.

But in the mean time, I'm somewhat concerned, is this sound normal with hardware I have installed? Keep in mind the car drives fine.

Ticking/Wooshing sound is pretty common with headers, the thinner material of stainless resonates sound a bit more..

However ticking could also mean a leak at the gasket. Pull off the skid plate and grab a flaslight check to see if there is any soot around the outside of the header flanges..

What gaskets did you use?

I don't know what gaskets they used unfortunately. The shop seems competent, busy, and had lots of mean looking cars in there they were working on, so I don't feel they did a "sloppy" job, but anything is possible. I'll know more this week when I go back there.

You say ticking is common with new headers, but would it only be at 1k RPMs and lower like I'm experiencing? Could it be the sound of the fuel injectors?

I'm just hoping this is normal, and not looking at a long winded repair.

Yes you can often hear the ticking of fuel injectors at idle, might be more noticeable with the aftermarket injectors that are now fitted.

you can use a long screwdriver as a stethoscope, put the handle end to your ear and touch the blade end near or on the part you want to listen to and you can often isolate ticking and stuffed bearings/pulleys.

just dont get caught up in moving parts :-)

Thanks for the advice. The sound seems like it's coming from the back left of the engine. The area near the passenger windshield.

Well fuck me for not reading completely, totally missed the new injectors. Very possible its the new injectors and would make sense why you hear them at low rpm/idleing