90% of the exhaust sound comes from my left foot

[davepl]

This is hard to explain. I don't have an exhaust leak, though at first I thought I might.

I get a loud ticking sound from the downpipe on the driver's side. So the pipe that comes off the manifold seems really loud, like someome is ticking away at it in time with a screwdriver, but it's not a mechanical hit, almost a sympathetic ring.

On the one hand it sounds like others of these trucks I've had, probably because they all (V8) have that exhaust pipe there.

Are the big blocks perhaps worse? With a big block and cast iron manifolds I was hoping for more of a "blub blub blub" low factory exhaust note, but I might as well be running headers for the ticking!

I am 95% sure it's not a mechanical problem, like a loose rocker, though anything is possible. I just think it might be how these things sound, but I don't have access to another big block to listen to.

If it's a "known characteristic" I'm hoping maybe someone has found a solution, like wrapping that part of the exhaust pipe with thermal wrap or some insulation...