So, I thought I would update. Might've cracked the noise issue down to my alternator. I went ahead and removed the valve cover and spark plugs so I can rotate the engine by hand. I heard a noise similar sounding when driving (just slower) coming from the alternator area as shown in these videos. Unless its the oil pump itself which sits right below it, I thought I could just be hearing that or the gear behind the timing cover, until I remembered. The belt I had prior to the new one was less than 12 months old and already started tearing. When I removed the old belt I only loosened the top tension bolt and the alternator moved freely, then it hit my head that that should not happen. Went ahead and looked at the two bottom bolts under the alternator and what do you know, they somehow managed to get loose overtime! This leads me to believe the alternator bearing is shot. I will be ordering another one from autozone as I still have warranty.

 

 

A couple months ago I was going to go for an early morning drive and heard some noise from the front of my car, I noticed that the rubber of the harmonic balancer had let go from the inner and outer ring.

Might be worthwhile to inspect yours!

Thanks for the input will keep that in mind. Right now I believe its my alternator. Seeing the bolts on the bottom just a couple threads from falling out convinces me the alternator had too much play and caused the bearings to fail. Also the nice thing about spatial audio is I can hear the noise is more towards the alternator side with headphones on. I posted a second video but not sure what happened there.

Okay, back with an update. Replaced alternator, sound still present. But my alternator was actually bad, the bearing was actually making noise and I noticed my lights stopped dimming at lower rpms. Performed a valve adjustment, car ran even faster and smoother after I did this. However the sound is still present.

Finally got my hands on a timing gun today, also took a quick stop at autozone to pickup lucas octane booster (Incase I am hearing ping). Poured in the octane booster, ran the engine for about 10 mins to warm it up and setup the timing gun. Without adjusting anything the car was extremely advanced (I can't see my timing indicator because it's all covered up with gunk) but going to assume based on pictures it was possibly in the 30 degrees range which is way past the timing indicator. I immediately went to retard the distributor as much as possible and maxed it out and checked timing again and once again based on pictures of the timing mark indicator its right around 15 to 18 degrees which is the lowest I can get it. Went to drive the car and the damn noise is still there! The car definitely feels like it lost power too.

I noticed my water pump was leaking while doing timing, not sure when it started leaking but ordered a replacement, any chance that's what is making the noise?

Any thoughts would be great. The engine is an L28 N42 with a rebuilt stock E88 head from a 260z. Triple webers. I'll post a picture of the spark plugs incase that helps. Car does run really rich, has been running rich for the past year.

I'll leave behind some pics of the spark plugs as well as pics down the timing cover I took with an endoscope.

 

Have you set the engine at top dead center on the compression stroke, remove the distributor and check the drive spindle for 11:20. That’s going to give you the indicator your looking for.

3 minutes ago, Yarb said:

Have you set the engine at top dead center on the compression stroke, remove the distributor and check the drive spindle for 11:20. That’s going to give you the indicator your looking for.

I have not, aside from the water pump and some new spark plugs that I ordered, I planed on doing this tomorrow or tuesday next week but I was also going to remove the oil pump and reinstall everything with the engine at tdc. I am more than positive the timing went off after the oil pump install after seeing how off timing was before adjustment.

3 hours ago, Yarb said:

Have you set the engine at top dead center on the compression stroke, remove the distributor and check the drive spindle for 11:20. That’s going to give you the indicator your looking for.

Well once you set it to TDC you can confirm two things, one that the distributor timing is lined correctly with cylinder 1, and two that the harmonic balancer is still in one peice and not causing the sound.

BTW I have video from when I had the problem:

check it out.

6 hours ago, heyitsrama said:

Well once you set it to TDC you can confirm two things, one that the distributor timing is lined correctly with cylinder 1, and two that the harmonic balancer is still in one peice and not causing the sound.

BTW I have video from when I had the problem:

check it out.

Thanks I will update Tuesday night after I do all that work. I should have the water pump replaced at the same time. I looked at my harmonic balancer, the only thing is im running this one from MSA.

https://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/10-2139

It's only about a year old and to my knowledge is a solid piece. My previous balancer split the same way yours did. The only thing like I said is I can't hear the noise when the car is just sitting, I have to be driving in order to hear the noise

Confused about the replacement damper from MSA being +20. Someone please chime in…

make sure you are using the timing light correctly. some have provisions for setting the timing on the gun and then you just aim for 0 on the pointer while adjusting the dizzy. 

Can someone tell me what would be considered the correct timing mark on the MSA performance balancer? There are 5 white markings, the bottom marking is the thickest so I am assuming that's what I go based on?. Today I removed my dizzy and oil pump and lined up the spindle with motor at tdc 

The top of the spindle aligned more with the bolt holes but it was close enough so maybe more like 11:20 for me. Also installed new spark plugs since mine were clogged up. Also cleaned up all the contacts on my cap and rotor and wires. After adjusting timing, car idles perfectly at 800 rpm now. timing was maybe 18 degrees advanced or so. Drove car home and noise is still present. At this point I don't think its a timing issue or the car is pinging/detonation. The noise is still present when accelerating while driving. It only makes the noise when I'm like 40% throttle or more. Tomorrow I am going to install the new waterpump too (since mine is leaking) and will most likely install the old oil pump to see if the new one is the problem. I also have a new exhaust manifold gasket but I'm pretty positive my current one is fine.

On 11/5/2021 at 8:11 AM, Dave WM said:

make sure you are using the timing light correctly. some have provisions for setting the timing on the gun and then you just aim for 0 on the pointer while adjusting the dizzy. 

I am using it correctly. It's one of the ones where you have to adjust the timing gun based on how off the marking is then it gives you the correct timing, if that makes sense...

your distributor spindle looks right now 👍🏻

the leftmost (or most anti clockwise) marker on the pulley will be 0 or TDC.  the marks to its right are in 5 degree increments. 

the 0 marker should be aligned with the pointer on the timing cover at TDC. is it? 

depending how your timing gun works, 0 may be the correct marker to line it up with.