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For some time I have been chasing a ticking noise from my 1953 Packard. I only occurs on the road and seems to only occur past a certain rpm. It follows the engine speed and goes away when I let off the gas and comes back we I depress it. It happens in lo and hi range. I cannot make it do it in my shop, either hot or cold, revving the engine, even putting the brake on, chocking the wheel and gassing it in reverse. It does not appear to be lifters or bearings, because it will not do it hot, period; not at rest, at any rpm, only on the road. It does not appear to come from the wheels due to tight relation to engine speed. It is dependably repeatable. I have checked the fuel pump vacuum, I have machined the manifold flat and replaced the gaskets. I have checked timing and replaced both the distributor and the advance with new units to no avail. Recently, I saw the forum on the oil filler tube knocking. Sure enough mine was backwards, also, but this was not it. I am at my wits end. I have had two experienced mechanics, (not Packard specialists), with knowledge of old cars. They only came up with some of the above.
HELP!!!!!

Drive shaft or joint related only under load maybe?

It goes with engine speed and not cr speed. The engine had a major overhaul in the 1990's, but only has about 500 miles on it.

I'm assuming this is an ultramatic car since you talk about chocking the wheels and pushing them against the chocks in reverse and because it does it in high and low?

I'm not an expert AT ALL, but you seemed to have ruled out the simple stuff like fan contact with something and worn water pump and vacuum leaks (and i'm hoping you checked exhaust leaks too? they tick for sure but you should have heard that under load in the reverse power test).

Could one of the ultramatic adjustments do this? The TV linkage or the shift linkage cause something to click inside the tranny, like when you lightly hold a shifter in a stick shift against a gear while in neutral with no clutch, slightly rubbing against the spinning gears?

Also, could this be a cam issue with a somewhat worn lobe? I do know of one guy (with a pontiac v8) that had a well running car but had no power past a certain RPM and ticking he couldn't adjust out when he got to that RPM that wasn't there at idle. Turned out 3 cam lobes were wiped. I don't know if the Packard 8s suffer from that or not with modern oil.

Just shots in the dark since you seemed to cover all the bases.

I had a similar noise and many others with my 1950 Packard. The noises all disappeared after I had the rear axle and driveline rebuilt. A noise only under load that disappears when you let off the power may be driveline. Maybe you can get a shop with a rear wheel dyno run it under load and try to find the noise source.

Loose rear brake drum? Usually described as more of a clicking than a tapping but worth checking anyway.

Maybe a loose generator? Could be bracket to engine block, or generator to bracket, or both.

(o{i}o)

I describe it as a tap, it may be more like a tick. I almost thought it was a lifter at first. It positively is following the engine in speed, so I do not think it is in the drive train. One item, the other problem I have is that it is a 5000 to 600 mile completely overhauled engine and teh front oil seal is leaking. Can oil seals tick in time with the engine.

Can the front oil seal cause such a ticking noise? My front oil seal is leaking prematurely.