So the tap at startup has still stuck around. Very random. No rhyme or reason. Hot,cold,1 minute after driving,30 minutes, no tap in morning,,,Never know. But it always quiets up.
Tonight I figured I'd give the valves a quarter turn from the 3/4+ 3/16 turn I was at.
Now I don't know if driving this around for several weeks would require me to get back to zero lash first but, I just went with a quarter turn from where I know they were.
Threads showing on top of the rockers are still less than when I know the truck didn't have issues so I feel safe I could go even more.
So I had the drive belt off to find #1 tdc easier and started the truck without it reinstalled on accident. It actually took me 2 minutes to realize this...not good....
I guess the obvious question is how bad is this? I've heard of testing without the belt for short periods..but 2 minutes??
The other question I have is that, when I did start it up without the belt, every single lifter tapped like crazy...and this was the reason I didn't notice the belt because I was shocked to hear this, assuming I wouldn't hear anything since going more preload, and even more shocked it was all of them when it's usually just been one....
Put the belt on and fired it up and still heard a couple of taps but then it was quiet....
Maybe the lifters need time to adjust but wouldn't they have done that when I first started it?
What is the belt doing? Applying tension to the crank? Should the truck have been quiet without the belt and not every lifter tapping like mad?
I really don't know .