Header Leak

[04BlackSRT10]

I feel like I need to apologize for creating so many threads, but my car is such a basket-case that I need advice all across the board. When I'm on the highway at low RPM and the exhaust is quiet, under load a noticeable ticking sound comes from the passenger side of the car. It sounds like it's from the engine compartment, and my research on forums has led me to believe it might be a header leak. I know it's not the exhaust, because literally yesterday I had high flow cats installed and the guy welded everything up perfectly and there were no exhaust leaks. The car has Billy Boat headers, and I have no idea who installed them or if they did a proper job with the install. Is a header leak something I need to worry about, or is this something I can put off for a while longer? I'm tired of wrenching on the car at this point and would like to take a break before tackling this. Yes, I could pay someone to fix it, but I have a hard time spending hundreds of dollars in labor for something I can do myself.

[Old School]

You can locate a header leak by opening the hood and cracking the throttle. Every time you crack it, you should hear it and be able to locate it. I usually use a 2-3' long piece of heater hose as a stethiscope.

[04BlackSRT10]

I tried doing that, but due to how loud all the valvetrain ticks are, I wasn't able to tell if there was any leaking noise. I'll have to try again when the engine is cold so I can stick my hand down there and feel for exhaust. Is it possible the noise is just regular valvetrain noise?

[Old School]

Is it possible the noise is just regular valvetrain noise?

Yes, these are notorious for that. They have "fast bleed" lifters that make a lot of noise at low RPM. It's common practice to replace them for a horsepower gain.

[SNKEBIT]

I have repaired a few sets of Billy Boat slip fit headers. They come apart alot where they slip fit together.....