Weird ticking or rattling

OK i have this 3.7L running re

OK i have this 3.7L running really good. I rebuilt this thing after it hydro-locked a cylinder from a rot hole in the riser.(not fun) but now it is running mint. The only thing is I have this tick or ping or something when I jump on the throttle. It still runs nice and smooth and all but has this ticky pingy or kinda like a rattling type noise. if I back off a bit it will go away and will come back more as I get back on it. I also put it in neutral and gave the throttle a pump and when the rpms came up it made this noise a little bit. it seems to do this more when i try to get the throttle opened up. Brand new oil pump with good pressure no over heating no loose parts that we can find and again it is running nice. It's not the shutters because i took them out to see if that was the problem. I'm thinking maybe the timing may be off a bit? Anyone have any ideas of what I am over looking? I plan to pull the valve cover and check for a loose rocker or something and do a oil change anyway. But I am still thinking it is something else because it dose it more when under a load. I want to go fishing this weekend so any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Sounds like your timing is a b

Sounds like your timing is a bit too advanced.
I would try backing it off about 2 degrees and see if theat helps. I bet it will.

Rod

"Does it really seem to be ori

"Does it really seem to be originating in the valve train area? Or can you tell?

I can never really tell exactly what someone else's description of a sound really is like, but the first thing that came to my mind was the tick sound that a very slight exhaust leak can make. Could the exhaust manifold perhaps have a slight gasket leak?"