The head bolt mod might fix it but on my donor engine it had been tried before. As I recall the oil path is around the outside of a cam bearing before it comes up through the head and then through a rocker shaft pedestal. On my engine that groove around the cam bearing wasn't cut deep enough and I ended up putting in an overhead oiler line through the side of the valve cover and into the pedestal. 

#1: those earliest heads delivered oil to the top by excess clearance around one of the #4 cyl head bolts. there's a fix that's just grinding the shank of the bolt thinner to make more clearance, and digging as much crud out of the hole as you can with a peice of stiff wire.

switching to a new head is completely unnecessary to solve a minor oiling problem. and if the lack of oil has caused excess wear, a straightforward cylinder head rebuild will solve it permanently. also swapping any major part is rarely a simple drop-in; all sort of minor stuff will have to be accommodated.

#2: HA! i think you will appreciate this... your sporadic ticking is the FUEL PUMP and it's perfectly normal. you can only hear it on quiet engines!

here's how it works: the camshaft's fuel pump eccentric lifts and lowers the lever in the fuel pump. when the pump is moving a large-ish amount of gas, the lever works the diaphragm which moves the fuel, and the lever follows the eccentric.

but when little fuel is moving, eg. the carb bowl is full (as it is only a few seconds after startup) and the engine's idling (using nearly no fuel) the pump diaphragm doesn't lower back down onto the lever, so the lever is no longer riding on the eccentric -- it's a bit above it, so as the eccentric comes around again and again it slaps the tip of the lever and makes that scary ticking noise.

OK, with it ticking at idle, with your head under the hood rev the engine up a couple times, to use up a bit of fuel in the carb bowl. if you listen carefully, the ticking will be much reduced for a second, then return, as the pump pushes fuel into the carb. once it's full, it ticks.

t'ain't broke!

Let us know how that head bolt mod goes.

The engine I have that had a lot of problems came from a 67 American. I have a worn and clacking rocker set that got that way from it having been run without oil. The shaft is hard and I tried drilling through to be able to flip it over but even cobalt bits wouldn't do it. For parts try Galvin's.

well of course i can only guess from this great distance. compression and/or leakdown tests and the squirt of oil to check rings will reveal more. if its loud i'd too suspect stuck lifter etc. maybe i read more into 'quiet engine' etc.

vinny points out too that if it was driving long without topend oil lifter stuff could be badly worn. that's easy enough to take off, to pieces, examine lube and possibly replace. you can examine pushrod tips, roll the pushrods on something very flat (window glass or mirror) to check for bends, rocker fit on the shaft, gouging, etc. since the lifters are self-adjusting you can take it off and just put it back on. the torque spec is modest.

you can get good used or new rocker shafts for thr 199/232 i think (as vinny sez) if it comes to that. still lots of parts available for that motor!

is the clunk associated with a misfire?

If the cam bearing doesn't have a deep enough groove or it is worn out or the holes don't line up with the drilled holes in the block then no oil to the top. 

If ever I had another of these apart I would take a Dremel and cut a groove in the block outside of the bearing from one hole to the next so oil could go around the outside of the bearing and get to the top.

The engine I worked on had a hint of a groove outside the bearing like someone thought that is what should be done but not deep enough for oil of any quantity to flow.  

If the head bolt mod is not successful there is the option of putting on an overhead oil line to it.

it may be that the clunk is caused by the misfire, and not vice versa (why i asked). i'd get this thing running and driving -- if it isn't, sounds liek you just got it on the road but fill us in -- then worry about klunks. exhaust systems tap on x-members, whatever.

the *misfire* is carb and/or ignition, almost certainly.

maybe back up, give us more global context here? how recent is this rebuild, in miles, and days/weeks? do you have run time on the engine? is it broken in? have you logged highway miles? or is the the first fire-up after rebuild?

if the engine was assembled with the wrong cam bearing, and that's starving the top end, all is not lost.

i finally recalled where the info is -- " rel="nofollow - " rel="nofollow - ">http://mattsoldcars.com . matt was a regular on the old AMC-list (which if feel this forum is an inheritor of/to). here's the top-end-oil fix page: http://www.mattsoldcars.com/RestoreAmerican/boltmod.shtml" rel="nofollow - http://www.mattsoldcars.com/RestoreAmerican/boltmod.shtml

i had, and i think still have, one of these modded bolts. it would not be that difficult to fabricate in a home shop, and seriously not a big deal at a paid-for shop. both the bolt AND the valve cover need to be modified.

unlike Matt I will try to describe it! lol

1) get an extra rocker shaft bolt and drill a hole down from the top, through the head into the shank. the hole depth is such that it the bottom of the hole is in line with the hollow rocker shaft.

2) a small cross-hole is drilled into the shank of the bolt. the hole is drilled in the part of the bolt that exists in the middle of the hollow rocker shaft. drill the hole through to the previously drilled longtitudinal hole.

3) the top hole (in the head) is counterbored to 3/16", about 1/4" down.

4) into this hole a short section, 3" or so? of "brake line" is installed. this is brazed in place.

5) drill a 3/8" hole "in the right place" on the valve cover. insert a rubber grommet into this hole, that has a 3/16" id. see below for "right place".

6) install all this junk and torque it down.

7) plumb a 3/16" brake line up from the main gallery (easy) up to the tube nbow sticking out of the valve cover; it gets joined to the plumbing with a slip-on compression ferule and nut.

each step is not that big a deal. i had one junk/core engine that had this setup.

it's easier than a second engine teardown.

THE RIGHT PLACE FOR THE HOLE:

you can either use heroically precise and arcane measurement to locate the hole; find the original AMC field service errata with the measurement...

...or my method for things like this, which is to install the new bolt temporarily without brazing the tubing; chop a section of tube, experimentally, until it *just* touches the inside of the valve cover when installed, take the cover out, put blue tape at the spot, put the valve cover on and wiggle it to make a mark.

another choice if you screw up is to cut a larger hole, like 1", and cut a 2" square of sheet metal, drill and grommet a hole in it, shape it to match the curve of the valve cover, attach the valve cover so the tube sticks out the large hole, place the 2" thing over it and sheet-metal screw it in the righrt location. you could probably conjure up a way to leave an inverted flare nut on the tube and make a two-piece cap, etc.

sheesh wtf -- i cannot seem to edit an error in the URL.

matts old cars is at

http://mattsoldcars.com" rel="nofollow - http://mattsoldcars.com

Another version of an overhead oiler. Figure it all out first before drilling any holes.