L98auto

Sorry, I know this isn't a direct Corvette question, but there are a lot of knowledgeable folks on here and I'm in a bind. The car in question is my other vintage Chevy, a '73 Nova. I've never heard this noise before. It sounds like a bird chirping out of my right exhaust pipe. The motor is a 350 Goodwrench with less than 3000 miles on the clock. I recently switched from headers back to manifolds. The engine compartment is dead quiet now but a chirping noise is now coming out the back. I switched mufflers. Still chirps. I began pulling plug wires as it ran and the chirp goes away when cylinder #8 is "dead". The plugs, including #8 all look very good, a nice light tan color. Is the manifold doing this or is the quieter manifold just uncovering a noise that was there all along? The manifold is a smog piece with the smog pump holes capped with the plugs that came with it. None of the pipes a touching anything. The chirp is literally coming OUT of the tailpipe. The motor runs perfect otherwise. I'm really bummed as a big roadtrip/car show is coming up in May. Any help would be great. Thanks.

Blue79

You against performing a compression test?

L98auto

No, this literally just came up tonight. A compression test is likely my next step tomorrow night when I get some more free time. Valve related issue possibly?

bellaireroad

sounds like it could be an exhaust leak, especially since it started when you put the manifolds on

edk136

Yep,

Make sure the manifold isn't cracked. I had a chirping sound out of the left bank and sure enough, there was a crack on the underneath side of the manifold.

L98auto

Well, I got up early this morning before work and pulled the right manifold (which is brand new) and low and behold there's something that looks an awful lot like a crack right by cylinder #8! I can't thank you guys enough. I posted a similar thread at the Nova forum and got zero responses but you guys helped me out even though it wasn't even a Corvette. Awesome. Love this forum. Thanks again guys!

bballboy06

i have a chirp coming out of my headers i believe i know where it is coming from, but how do i fix it?

thanks

LB66383

If you're talking about aftermarket headers, then you probably have a bad gasket. Usually easy to replace.