[VWNate1]

It's a fairly simple thing to remove the cylinder head and drop the oil pan, send the head off for new guides (always, get ride of the crappy original cast iron valve guides) and hardened seats, undo the rods and push the pistons out, replace at least the rings, have the rods rebuilt and balanced to zero grams, replace the bearing shells and unless they look perfect, replace all six pistons with good quality ones, button it all back up and motor off happily for the rest of your life .

You didn't complain about poor running, just noise so now is the time to do a light overhaul on that obviously worn out engine .

Just a thought from a 6 cylinder lover who learned how to keep them running from GM training plus decades of working on them back when i6 engines were the standard and mainstay of work rigs .