Based on how the rod bearings look, I’ve decided to roll the dice and let the crank bearings live on. I inspected every oil passage in the block and head and I have not found a blockage. I’m puzzled as to why the tensioner was flat and the cam adjuster was unlocked when I tore it down. I understand the tensioner may have leaked down but both tested good anyways.
I did use my calibrated palm to test the valve spring pressure on the valves that hit and their neighbors. I found that the center intake valves on cylinders 5 and 6 are noticeably weaker than the others. Is it reasonable to say this has been my noise all along? The progression makes sense in that it started only when warm then onto hearing it all the time. If that’s the case and they were contacting at idle, I don’t know how it didnt do more damage when I drove the car and seen 4k rpm’s.
Anything else I should be looking at or is it safe to say that weak valve springs caused all that racket and made that banks timing values wander from the beginning?