Loud knocking and rattling in my KA24DE, lots of problems.

[wigg1ez]

Story on the car:

Bought it, no head or manifolds.Rebuilt the engine, ended up with a bad crankshaft.Had my throwout rod bearings going out every few weeks leaving me with bad ticking.

Radiator messed up, car overheated, blew the head gasket. No water, no oil. Screwed right?

So I take it out, rebuild the bottom half: new crankshaft, new bearings, new seals. Didn't rebuilt the head. Had it checked, and the guy didn't find any cracks or warp to it.

So, i threw the old head back on it.

Well, theres a loud rattle in the top of the engine, coming from the valve cover. My dad suspects the lifters are loose or something. I'm thinking it might have a bad head or something with the timing chain or my cams. The cams came out of an Altima front wheel drive and were modified in the shop to work with my rear wheel drive.

Also, my exhaust rattles loud as hell. Got underneath of it yesterday and it sounds like the heatshield around the cat or the cat itself has something shaking inside of it.

But anyways, just thought I would ask for some opinions on the situation.I plan on doing an oil change later with some thicker oil and some treatment.

Also, the car is eating the hell out of my gas. Feels like something is holding it back when it changes gears. The new crankshaft went in pretty snug but none the less it rotated smoothly when we turned it over. So I don't know if the crankshaft is too snug or maybe I need to do a tune up on the transmission.

I might be picking up a S13 SOHC KA24E 1990 240sx this week, not sure yet.

Comments or suggestions anyone? I'm thinking if I get the SOHC 240, I'm going to park the convertible for a month or two until I do another swap with a new engine or a new head.

Thanks!