Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

[WConley]

Looking at those pictures, I'd say the flywheel wasn't seated all the way and was periodically wobbling.  That would cause the ring gear teeth to hit the starter at the very least. 

Any sign of dings on the teeth or the starter bendix / pinion?  Internal engine stuff that loud is usually pretty steady and easy to find.  One exception I've experienced is cam end play caused by putting an old-style spacer onto a new cam sprocket that has a built-in spacer already.  That will cause the cam to "chuck" back-and-forth under certain conditions, with unhappy results :-(  Don't think that's your problem here...

[lovehamr]

Well guys, thanks for all the suggestions.  The thing is back together with a new flywheel and the noise was right back.  For any who'd like to post what they hear I'd be glad to read it.  In this first video I'd just put the program file into the injector and it doesn't actually start until about 25 seconds in if you want to FF.
http://youtu.be/mVNYdpE_6vc


In this next one I'm under the car and still can't positively locate the sound.  It's just something that I've never heard.
http://youtu.be/mVP06Mn_X7g


In this last video the banging sound has gone away and for a minute everything sounds great but now I have a miss that I didn't have before.
http://youtu.be/EdTv0-m7XDI


While I had it running I took ScotiaFE's advice and took my stethoscope all over the thing hitting each runner and each exhaust port; and other than thinking it's up top just because of the cadence and miss, I'm not sure of squat other than it's hurt.  What do you guys hear?

Thanks Steve

[ScotiaFE]

I'm going with valveish.
I'd be pulling the heads.

Edit: I've heard that sound more than a few times in my life and it's always in a chamber.

[My427stang]

Man that sounds like either a burned valve, a tight valve, or a bad cross fire.

Have you checked the ignition closely?  Bad wires, coil wire arcing to a plug wire?  Crossed wires, bad cap?

[bartlett]

my vote is broken cam ....man that sdounds bad ...good luck and I can feel your pain .

[jayb]

I had a two piece header tube come apart on the last day of Drag Week 2006.  Sounded just like a rod knock on the way back down pit road, and I was sure I'd seriously hurt the engine.  Found the pipe loose, hooked it back together, problem solved.  Moral of the story - check the simple stuff first.

Have you pulled the plugs?  Check carefully for bent electrodes, which will indicate shrapnel in the combustion chamber.  If you see that, pull the valve cover and look for damage.  You can also put your timing light on each plug wire to make sure that each one is firing.

Run the engine with the lights off.  Do you see a spark jumping anywhere it shouldn't be?  Like between 7 and 8 maybe?  Those two plug wires should be separated by at least one other wire if possible, to avoid cross-arcing.

I've never heard a valvetrain noise that isn't in sync with the engine like that, but I have heard a bad rod sound like that before.

Mostly I've just got random thoughts on this.  Just start taking it apart a little at a time, Steve, you'll figure it out...

[bartlett]

sounds like a valve is sticking open and the piston is hitting it.  I would pull the valve covers and watch each valve through its motion.

[KMcCullah]

After watching your last video. Where you started on the passenger side of the car and walked around to the drivers side. It sounds like to me its popping out of the exhaust. Something funky with the fuel injection? Or ignition maybe? This noise doesn't sound mechanical to me. Flat cam was my first thought until I watched the last video.

[427Fastback]

I watched the videos and read everyones thoughts and they are on the right track....I would pull the cover on the pass side and dissect it carefully...I here a popping in the pass side pipe.That tells me there is something wrong with the intake stuff...Broken spring to a stuck valve...

If the noise has stopped and you have a dead cyl....you now have a target..Check the compression on the dead hole and look at the electrode.....Cory..

As to Jays thoughts....I know a guy who built a brand new engine (Olds V8) because it was knocking bad...The new engine had the knock as well.....They found a bolt stuck between two header tubes....

Check everything....

[dowds]

I listened with headphones on and it sounds like cam shaft or timing gear problem, might explain the popping out your pipes

[FErocious]

  It looks like the distributor cap  carbon contact is burnt up. Replace the distributor cap center carbon  , if removeable,  or replace the cap.  Bend up the contact on the rotor to mate up with the cap carbon center contact. Good to go...

[MT63AFX]

You got lucky, that flywheel was getting ready to 'fly the coop'; exit stage right; get outta Dodge; leave the scene of a crime. The crank-flange opening is no longer a perfect, symmetrically round opening with evidence of material loss just to the right of the crack. I don't know Fidanza, but do know Hayes, Rod.

[jayb]

  It looks like the distributor cap  carbon contact is burnt up. Replace the distributor cap center carbon  , if removeable,  or replace the cap.  Bend up the contact on the rotor to mate up with the cap carbon center contact. Good to go...

Great catch!  I didn't notice that when I first saw the picture.  MSD rotors are known for not having the contact up high enough to hit the center carbon contact in the cap.  The center carbon contact is supposed to be pointed, and in the picture it looks flat.  That happens because the spark is jumping the gap between the center carbon contact in the cap and the rotor, and a spark there will eat away the carbon contact until it is flat, and then you will start to get a miss. 

Don't know if this is the whole problem or not, but it could be.  Steve, you should replace the cap and rotor, and when you install the rotor bend the steel contact up to make sure it is touching the center carbon contact in the cap.

[lovehamr]

For all those who read and commented on my FE's issue, thanks for taking the time to help.  If any of you were wondering WTF it actually was, here you go.  After being so annoyed with it that I didn't go out in the garage for about a month I finally got to it today.  All of these pics are in my photobucket account under "noisy FE" if you want to take a look at the full size ones.
http://s266.photobucket.com/user/lovehamr/library/Noisy%20FE?sort=9&start=20&page=1

The short of it is that it was a broken rocker arm.  What follows is what I found and surmised what went on.  Any other opinions are more than welcome so don't feel the need to keep something back, this is a learning experience for me.

When I took the pass VC off this last time after making the videos (turns out that was a bad idea) the top half of a rocker fell out and dropped down to the floor.  Remember that I'd had the VCs off of it already, felt all of the rockers and nothing felt out of place. I believe that the last rocker pic shows why I didn't feel anything wrong the first time the VCs were off.  You'll notice that, unlike the pushrod side, the valve side fracture shows numerous stress fracture lines indicating repeated compression and rarefaction before catastrophic failure.  Because of this I believe that the pushrod side went first (starting that godawful noise) but the valve side didn't fail until I was making the videos, hence my "bad idea" comment. Here are a few pics of the offending POS.








Once the rocker failed completely, it allowed the lifter and pushrod to slap about willie-nilley breaking one lifter and bending the pushrod for that rocker.  Luckily the lifters stayed straight in the bores and the cam is OK.  Here are a few pics of that.










I hate it when something is posted in a forum and then never followed up on, it's like reading a book that the author never finishes.  So there you go guys, no more mystery. 

Now, what rockers do I need?

Steve

[turbohunter]

Yikes
What rockers are those?