Ticking/knocking noise from engine, especially when hot?

[Smousley1995]

I've had the noise for a little over a month and about 1500 miles. It's a ticking/knocking sound which appears to be coming from the top of the engine and it is more audible when the engine is hot. I have an open exhaust so it's hard to tell if it's there at higher revs but I think it is. The noises increases with the revs. It also wasn't sudden, it started over a couple of hundred miles.
It's not the valve clearances because I sorted them when I first started hearing it and they were out of tolerance but they weren't causing the noise and I don't think it's the cam chain because I changed the tensioner for a basically brand new one off my other Zxr which I crashed
When I did the valve clearances I noticed where the top half of the camshaft bearings oil ways join with the small tube and o-rings,where the tube goes into was cracked and had a small part missing so wouldn't seal properly. Personally I think it's ok but if the camshaft wasn't getting enough oil at one end would that be likely to cause a ticking sound?

Other than that I'm not sure what it could be but I don't want my engine to blow up one day
Any answers would be appreciated, thanks

[banner001]

im pretty sure that you have a dead rocker arm...it happens pretty fast at 15,000rpm with no oil.

pull the cam shafts and look at all the hard-facing on the rocker arms, im guessing that lack of lubrication has work the rocker arm, maybe there was some pre-existing damage to it.

and get the oil feed fixed fast, before you destroy the whole top end...

[spudboy6]

I had a similar noise and all it was is my exhaust had come loose at the head

Grab a 10mm and see if they are tight

[Smousley1995]

Banner- I had the noise before the cam oil ways broke so I don't think that would of caused it and all the rockers and lobes looked fine when I did the valve clearances.
And to go into a little more depth, the oil way had been broken previously and had a chocolate coloured glue kind of substance which I presume a garage had used (the previous owner never did anything mechanical) when I took them out this cracked but all it was really doing was holding the small joining tube in place. The oil ways are still connected but a small amount could get out of this newly formed crack in the glue.
In your opinion do you think that will be ok? I know there's not much to go on there also do you have any idea what kind of pressure that oil is under?

Spudboy- I'll talk a look at the exhaust tonight I was going to yesterday but engine was hot and I didn't want to strip the threads

[banner001]

you cannot check the rockers correctly with the cams still in place, there just isnt enough room to have a look around.

the oil is definitely under pressure as it has to be pumped vertically to get into the head, and a fair bit of it gets pumped into the head.

the oil will take the path of least resistance, if you think it will preferentially come out of the crack...then you wont get any to the cam journals...and they will wear in minutes if they get hot with no lubricant...its your engine - you can destroy it if you want, but this is what mine was like when i had the same problems as you, and this wasnt long after i did the clearances...
viewtopic.php?f=117&t=14815

and to re-itterate, if its a ticking in the top end, the only bits that make "tapping" noises in there are the cams hitting the rockers, and the valves hitting the head...both will cause you a big bill if you dont fix them fast.

[Smousley1995]

Hmm I think I may order up new ones after looking at your pictures
Will new ones be fine because the bottom half will be worn in and the top half brand new?
Or I could look at doing what he did to them before with the glue stuff?
We'll actually I have my other engine with a set in, would it be ok to use them?