It's absurdly loud. I can't bring myself to rev it past 4K before I'm pretty sure the motor would just come apart in my face. It's been like that since I first started it, and I just told myself it was the CCT and got one sent to me. I think it's deeper valvetrain issues, because I can hear it louder out of the hole when I take the big pulser rotor plug out and listen in there. I shined a flashlight in there and popped the throttle a few times, and saw no evidence of the cam chain flopping or guides even budging. I removed the valve cover and pulser cover for the CCT install to assure myself that everything was in time and properly tensioned.

 

i figured out what the ticking noise is from the front end. For me anyway, push on your headers and mine anyway stopped but i see a loose bolt but wont tighten. Im thinking its a wrong size bold since is different from the others and it def moves and stops making that horrible ticking noise. try that on your bikes for the one that said they hear ticking front front end

 

Good call on the upstream exhaust leak. That's a quickie. Even on cars they can deceive the keenest into thinking of valve issues. I tried it on mine, and it didn't change. I have a sweet Micron carbon fiber full system, and it's in fantastic shape. I just got new header crush gaskets and re-studded the head as well. Unfortunately, for various reasons I'm able to rule that one out. I wish that was my problem...

 

Have you ran it by a tech just to listen to it. I always do that and than fix it myself after they told me what the problem is.

 

i have that noise too when the bike engine is cold, there is no noise but wen it gets warm
the noise starts, i already replace cct honda brand new, cct gasket,20-50 oil,cam chain,
even sparks,and the noise stills there.

you might know there could be many resons for that noise existance, if you guys have been fixed this problem using manual cct my theory coul be rigt and sounds like this.

honda cct is designed to work with the new or very good shape engine, but as long as thime has been passed and year have been passed, the cam shafts get it wears away
because the friction of the materials and all that millage so the brand new cct spring is out of range and not enuff tension, thats the reason why when you aply more tension on a manual cct the problem gets fixed.

NOTE: If you open the heads engine and remove the shims and miss the order when you set them back again, You will be in serious troubles and the best solution will be to cut the valves or get a new head armed from factory. (at less you ll be a genius as a mecanic and phisyc you will be able to get all the shims back in the right order makin a loth of maths and using a spark plug calib. and a micrometer? be carefull

Letme know what do you think about my thoughts tanx

 

So... I failed to report in this thread what my actual problem ended up being. It's only honest and fair. I hope this isn't your deal, and I hope these engines aren't famous for this junk. It was disturbing.

Almost every lower end bearing in my engine was galled or spun, and I had to buy a new crank, new set of pistons and rings, and new con rods. When I got into the engine, I discovered a shift fork was bent and melted, chunks were chipped off the shift drum, 1st and 2nd gear engagement dogs were darn close to absent, and the cam gears were severely worn from a seized cam chain. As a result of all these metal bits, my oil pump was also quite dominated, and I have no idea how it held oil pressure enough to turn the idiot light off on the dash. The rotor looked like someone had poured pea gravel and sand into it while it was rotating. It was just a conglomerate of various engine metals smashed into massive gouges in the outer pump rotor. Essentially, everything but the cases/bores, engine head, flywheel and clutch were completely destroyed and unable to be refinished.

I procured the parts to build it up from bare cases, did so, and it runs again. Wohoo! The motor only took me 8 hours to build up once I got the transmission clusters re-stacked properly and carefully inspected and cleaned the assembled engine head. I think it's good.

 

it could be a number of things, but the 03-04s are known to have valve problems, mainly on only one exhaust valve. Your keepers may have displaced themselves which would push the shim up onto the bucket and not allow any clearance. Check all of your clearances. Its easy once you have the airbox off, then take off the valve cover. The spec on the exhaust should be anywhere from .25 -.31 on the exhaust and .17-.22 on the intake. If the shims are out of place, they could have popped out from a slightly bent valve but that is a rare case. They also could have popped out from faulty maintainence. The ticking may also be too much clearance, where you have to replace the shim to go up to the next size. As the cam rotates the clearance is critical. Your bucket may be sticking because of the misplaced shim or keepers, or even possibly the walls that the bucket sits in may be damaged not allowingg the bucket to slide at low rpms, but when you rev it, it will work itself in. So check the clearances of all the valves, but start with the exhaust valves first because it is most likly one of those.