no steth yet. When I removed the plugs completely the first time I didn't rev the engine. when I shorted it I did rev the engine. Both ways sounded the same less the noise when I reved, and the noise level of the knocking didn't change at all.

exhaust manifold could be cracked?

No, it's definitely something mechanical. You can hear the pattern and defined higher pitch striking of something.

Noisey Engine
 

My 2 cents for what it worth.....

From the sound, It has to be related to on revolution of the crank. Two things to check, 1.) The Harmonic balancer... These are known to go bad at times.

2.) The other could be a broken piston skirt, causing piston slap. You might want to do a compression check. Had this happen in a 2.5L 4 cyl that sounded alot similar.

Steve

I was actually thinking about the harmonic balancer last night as a possability. how hard is it to replace on this car?
Willwren, did your "little box of tricks" show compression on it?

Which pulley dose the harmonic balancer run off of? I'm still trying to find my way around the specifics of the car.
Buy the way I was born and raised in the sunshine state. Orlando/ Daytona area

Thank you. I will go out and check this right now and post the results in a few minutes. I will say this is a lot of fun too. The more ideas given by the club, the more I learn about the car. I really do appreciate the help from all of you :D

OK, I looked at it as best I could. I reached down and tryed to run my hand on the backside of the crank pulley, and It fely like there was rubber on the back side of the pulley. I could be very wrong on this but it did feel like it was there and in tact. I did find something intersting that I took a picture of. I'm not sure you'll be able to see it in the photo but theres a small gap in the water pump gasket. Let me know if you can see what I'm talking about It may just be excess gasket but that seems strange to me. The photo will be large so it will be easier to see.
http://webpages.charter.net/justind23/0484.jpg

He was thinking water pump. The water pump has been replaced on the car. I know that for a fact. I think from what DrJay posted that I ruled out rods by doing the test he posted.

I fully understand that. Looking into the cost it may be worth it to hook up a new harmonic and water pump at the same time, and then check,photo and post the problem if found. I'm thinking people will want to see what's going on. I also still need to replace the alternator. I feel like we are pretty close on figuring this out.
Forgot. I lived in canavral as a kid. The family compay worked with the space center for about 30+ years.