I have a 95 Savage that was run without oil.  After rebuilding the engine, a loud tapping is present.  This issue has been addressed many times in this forum, and i've tried all of the recommendations, but the tapping in my engine persists.  Here is the history.

-after running with no oil, camshaft journals were worn beyond repair.  Engine was rebuilt with used cylinder head and cover.  
-replaced camshaft with new and checked the journal clearance with plastigage.  The range was .002 - .005, which is within tolerance.  
-started the bike and noticed tapping noise comming from the upper end of the engine.  It is barely noticable at idle.  While holding higher rpms, it is very loud.  Once i let go of the throttle, it taps eratically until back at idle.  Sounds like a classic case of valves tapping to me.  
-verified valve clearance with my feeler gauge.  I had it set at .004, so i reset it to .003 if not tighter.  
-started the bike and had no change to the tapping condition.
-replaced the timing chain as it was slightly out of tolerance, so i thought maybe the tapping was actually from the chain slapping as i've read about in this forum.  At this point, i was very carefull to make sure that all timing marks were dead on and that i was at TDC before putting the cover on.  Then, i was carefull to make sure i was at TDC on the compression stroke(waited for the intake rocker to go down) before setting the valve clearance.  
-started the bike and no change at all.  
-now i'm frustrated, but curious as to the cause, so i opened it back up and started taking measurements of all the parts and pieces to make sure they have not worn beyond tolerance.  With my dial indicator, caliper and micrometer, i measured everything listed in my service manual(Suzuki not Clymers).  I basically took the whole engine apart again and none of the parts are worn out of specifications.  The rocker arms had a little indentation from contact with the cam, so i replaced them.
-after re-assembly, i started the bike and had the same result.
I'm 90% convinced it is not mechanical, so i started looking at the electrical side of things.  
-i took resistence measurements on the ignition coil, pickup coil and the ignitor.  The only issue was the ignitor.  The measurements were not quite what the book said.  Could this be the cause?  I was under the impression the bike would not start if the ignitor was faulty.
-i also looked at the rotor key to make sure it didn't break.  Then, I started the bike while using the timing light.  The timing mark seems to advance with higher RPMs, but i can't tell how much .  

I've included about as much as i can in the hopes that someone might have another suggestion for me to try.  I remember the bike having a tapping noise before the oil incident, but not like this.  Thanks in advance for any inputs.

There are bent tension washers that go in line with the rocker mounting pins that "pre-tension" the rocker arms so they always cleanly follow the cam profile instead of just rattling around in the valve clearance.

Bet you didn't pre-bend them enough to get a good rocker arm tension ....

The rocker arms should always stay where you put them, never fall down by their own weight.

This is what the pre-tensioners are all about -- noise reduction.


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YOU PERMITTED YOUR CAM JOURNALS TO FLOAT AROUND INSIDE THE STOCK SUZUKI .002"'-.005" JOURNAL CLEARANCE ????

Aaaaaaaugh !!

What a waste !!

Think of it this way -- when our valves are set tight at .003" clearance our tappet noise is pretty minimal.   When it gets to .005" or more they get noisy (and we all know that)  

Take your .003" you set them to.  Now add .005" worth of journal slop into that equation .....  what can the result be?

  noisy

Update...I took off enough metal from the cover to get all the journals to .002.  I also bent the pre-tension washers a little more to hold the rockers in place.  Unfortunately, the tapping is still there.  I don't want to throw in the towel yet, but i'm wondering if i should have just bought a new head and cover instead of used.

I too am having a very similar experience. The PO run the bike with the drive gear on the clutch basket reversed. I have fixed that, sanded the cover, and now have 3 ½ to 4 psi hot running oil pressure in the cam journals. Adjusted the valves, and checked a couple of time. The CC plunger is out ~ 13 -14. Will do the Versy mod this winter. (Too much fun ridding to shut it down right now.)

It still has a fairly loud and consistent tapping or light knock. When it’s cold you don’t hear it, but when it warms up and the oil is running temp it is all ways there. It is my guess that it could be the piston to wrist pin clearance.

I am new to ridding and have enjoyed almost 3k on this bike and loving it. The sound doesn’t seem to be growing or getting much worse, so it was my plan to enjoy the rest of the season and during the off season pull the piston.

Oh great SS gurus   what do you think? I really respect you insights, and many years of experience.

Use that ear hole AND use the bone in front of the ear,see what you can figure out.. Good Luck,..,