If it were piston slap, i would imagine it would go away as the temps went up and the toleraces were closed. top of the heads are surprisingly quite for a dohc motor imo. i have read several times that out valves train is non adjustable but to how much truth that holds idk. by what i can hear, the sprockets are quiet as well. the noise is most def coming from the bottom end of the chain cover or general area. the engine is super smooth (for a v8 so i didnt even think about the crank as an option)