I am curious about the timing now as well but i can't check that til the engine is back together. I will get the coldest plugs possible if that is a possible fix, or even just a step in the right direction. I've got the injection dumping lots of fuel in the areas where i am having the knock as well as pulling all kinds of advance out. It just makes it run terrible and never gets rid of the knock. The distributor is not a vaccum advance so that shouldnt be an issue in this scenario, correct? If the manifold saw "less/leaked" vaccum it would retard the timing more than it needed to accross the board which would hurt power but help knock yeah? As far as the mechanical noise, what could make that noise, and be sensitive to engine speed, engine load, engine temperature, and ambient temperature? I will check anything at this point.