I have a 2006 Outback XT Limited, that I have recently done a lot of work to.
About 4500 miles ago (at around 149k), I spun a bearing in my original short block. I pulled the motor out, and everything was lost. I cut all of my losses, picked up a new shortblock, some used heads (90k on them), and got to work.
My build:
-IAG Stage 2 Tuff short-block (EJ257)
-D25 Heads (not original, but they were cheaper and I was able to find them easier.)
-I brought the used heads to a machine shop and had them put brand new exhaust valves in, and had all of my valves ground and redone.
-Complete reseal kit from Subaru
-New Full timing kit
-VF52 turbo
-Single Mass Flywheel
-WRX Exedy Clutch
-A bunch of new hoses (all of the ones that had cracks/broke on the way out)
-Killer Bee Oil Pickup Tube
-All New Oil components (pan, pump, etc.)
My question is regarding my idle. When I go out and do a cold start, my engine is what I would consider pretty loud with a tick. I know that a lot of people swear that Subaru injectors are loud, or that the valve train in flat motors are considerably louder, but I just want to make sure I'm not hurting anything. I have included a short video that I took right after I did a cold start.
I can hear the tick sometimes even when the car is hot, and I'm sitting at a light with the radio off. The tick completely disappears after I go above 1000 RPMs (when I'm warmed up, otherwise it's more like 1500), and sounds great otherwise.
I have no reason to believe that this is causing any issues, it's just probably the loudest tick I've heard other than when my last outback threw a rod bearing, so I'm just trying to take the precautionary route.
I have taken a mechanics stethoscope, and the short block makes no weird noises, but the tick seems to be coming from the head.
Would you consider this "normal"? Or should I do some poking around and see if there is a greater issue at fault?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7NvMui7LCI
took a better video with a short view of the engine bay to see if it's more pronounced:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GTPPo0dOmQ
Thanks for any help/feedback you might be able to offer!