Thanks again for your reply Mark.

Yes, the head does make 'ticky ticky' noises. Sounds like a sewing machine or something to me. I don't know specifically what 'loose valves' sound like. I know that this car has the original cam in it, but I don't think these cars were known for wearing cams... I'm sure the valve lash has never been done, and I do have 370k kms on it...

the timinig was reset recently (~ a month ago) using a light, and the belt is a year old (~30k kms on it).l

I don't think this is the B230 piston slap we all know and love. I'm pretty sure it's in the top end.

I have a friend with a one-year-newer B230FT (so, exactly the same as mine) that I will compare head noise with this weekend.


I will do some investigations with the local machine shops and find out what a head job will cost, and what type of outfit they have. Your recommendations will go a long way to ensure I get what I need.

I know that I haven't determined that the head is all bad yet anyway, but what do you think about actually swapping the head? I am pretty sure I know of a junked B230FT (an '88 I think) that I could get the head off of for real cheap. I've read before that swapping the head can be dangerous - something to do with the top-end being 'tighter' than the bottom-end, and that creating too much pressure, and causing breaking in the 'looser' 'end... any insight into this idea?