Thank you for the information, it's actually a decently quiet engine when its running, and gets good oil pressure. (this drops when the engine is idling down to nearly zero though), the rods dont tap, they used to but the tappits were way out on all of them, so i adjusted them to correct.
i think based on what everyone else is saying, its probably a good idea to get the engine out and rebuilt. I have a 200 mile round trip to do in 3 weeks time, so hopefully it'll get me there and back, then i can work on the engine during my quiet season.
