Now the bad news :(

 I noticed a new and disturbing noise the last time I drove my car, a distinct, RPM variable, always there knock emanating from the middle of my motor.  I've mentioned I like this car so I really didn't want to turn a disturbing noise into a rod hanging out of the block so I haven't driven her since :( (boo).

So as to not have to re-type an on-going saga, see my Pelican Parts thread asking for help and advice.  I video'd and pictured everything along the way to here this morning:

Here is the video of the sound I'm worried about:

It's in the thread but so far the only thing I've found is this:

Which of course has freaked me the poo out.  It is a piece of broken valve spring, the problem is that I've not found which one, sooo...is it a past repair or??  Hence the picture above.  A valve spring "shouldn't" produce the sound I have going on but I'll have to dig further.

I'm going to open this puppy up and fix whatever is going on so I can go back to beating the tar out of it with a big grin on my face.  I'm a full subscriber to the theory of beat on it, if it breaks it needed to be fixed anyway, it broke, something needs to be fixed :).

Now for an inkling of good news.  Before I dropped the motor I did a compression test and leak-down test.  The numbers are great, the cams I've been able to peek at inside the valve covers are also in beautiful condition.  I get the impression this motor is in good shape.  It seems to have been put together not terribly long ago, I have zero history which stinks but here is the time where I figure out just where I'm at.

A pic of the dirty engine out of the car:

And after an initial degreasing: 

So I'm caught up to today.  I'll be updating my findings soon and hopefully be reveling in the open road again.