Back from the dead...
I got that noise fixed, it was a worn out timing chain tensioiner causing the chain to bounce around and hit the head. I JB-welded it where it had worn grooves in the plastic piece. Been running for about 4k miles and so far, no noise.
After a while, it started falling apart again, and I had to put a diff. battery, oil pan gasket, front main seal, water pump, valve cover gasket, and some other shit too. Now it seems to not leak anything, but it doesn't idle right.
Cranks up fine when cold, but if you go drive it and push the clutch in to stop, the engine oscillates up and down from like 2500 - 800. Does this till it's mostly warmed up, then it stops.
Also, the power surges at low RPMs/high load. Lug the engine and it falls flat, then picks up, repeat. I think this may be because the timing chains are worn out though, but i dunno. Any ideas?