well, there arent any CEL's going on. i always check my oil religiously, however there were two instances when my engine was starved for oil (but not for very long): once after i put the new oil pump on and the freak incedent when my oil pressure sensor cracked and started squirting oil out. the knock could have easily been caused by these events, but it didnt really show up for about two months.

the whirring noise is most definetly coming fom inside the timing cover. the cam bearings were most likely replaced by the guy i bought the car from. i replaced the idler pulleys as an assembly, and im fairly sure those are sealed. Ive heard of people having this problem when converting to mechanical tensioning, but it was only one or two instances. at some point soon im going to have to check my tensioner and see if the spring tang is still lined up.

the wires arent incredibly old, but im probably going to try changing them. they arent corroded or cracking or anything like that. i havent checked the spark on each cylinder while the cars running but i plan on doing that pretty soon. ive tested the secondry resistance on my coilpack and gotten 14 ohms for both coils.

im probably gonna look into changing the map sensor and the crank position sensor pretty soon. what are the IAT and CTS? ive never heard of those before...

i dont think that the knock is bad enough to be a spun bearing, but im pretty sure ive got some extra clearance in my rod bearing though.

thanks for the suggestions

For anyone who was wondering, yes my user name is a joke.