And I had another thought - did you use a 2.1 crankshaft in a 1.9 case? The rods won't have enough clearance in there to swing on the longer-stroke crank. There will be contact with the case. Maybe that it your noise...

  Michael Diehr wrote:
1. Running a mix of 89 & 91 octane gas
2. it IS a 1.9 block that was rebuilt to 2.1
3. the previous engine did have a problem with the #1 cylinder
destructing.

So, maybe I have piston slap, bad injector, and a clogged coolant
pipe too? Maybe i should just push the thing off a cliff and save
myself the worry?