[Alfacliff]

Sunday Dan and I took a trip to Salina Ks. for a ham radio convention. we took my 74 and it ran good all the way there, on the way back, with the top down (sunburnt to a crisp) the "exhaust rattle" I have been hearing got worse till it sounded like one of the older cars with a tin fan with something stuck in it.
turned out to be the cam chain adjuster lock bolt had loosened up and the adjusted had Un adjusted itsself. Fortunatly, no teeth were jumped on the 220 mile trip and a bit of adjusting got it quiet again.
cliff

 

[Andrew]

You might change the oil right away, and look carefully at what comes out of the pan, as well as cutting open the filter to see what's inside. If it was that loose for that long, the chain may have done a fair amount of machining of the bottom edges of the head where it attaches to front cover, as well as the underside of the cam cover. You'd want to get all that stuff out of the oil system right away.

Andrew

 

[Alfacliff]

good point, I already have the oil and filter for a change. the head and cover had already been "chain milled" by po, so I cant see any new damage.
cliff

 

[Andrew]

If it was making bad noise for 200 miles, I'd change the oil as a matter of course. If you find a ton of slivers in the drained oil and filter, I'd watch my oil pressure carefully, and consider dropping the pan and inspecting the oil pump. This is sort of worst-case-scenario thinking, and probably not required.

Andrew

 

[alfadan]

Didnt look like there was any significant wear, but probably oil change time anyway.

 

[Alfacliff]

it waasnt making noise for 200 miles, the noise only appeared below about 2000 rpm. I wouldnt have driven the car with that much noise. on the way back, it got loud enough to hear on low speed turns and stoplights.
cliff