stupid question of the day

[Guest]

Hi All,
First, thanks to Dennis for the great pics of his drawer system - lovely
bit of work.
And now to a question so daft that I'm cringing at the thought of even
asking it.
My 97 GX 80 (UK Spec) has a strange noise coming from the engine bay
(groan how do you even begin to describe it in an email....)
At first I though it was the valve train, as it's a sort of 'teck teck
teck-a-teck-a' (actually that's exactly what it sounds like) noise which
occurs from about 1200 rpm even when the car is stationary. However, I
did the clearances yesterday and the noise is still there. Also, the
noise is much more audible from under the engine than above it.
I'm no expert (demonstrably), but I don't think it's the big end or
anything as sinister as that (that would be more of a 'donk' noise) but
was wondering if anyone might have experienced similar before?
I note that there is also a very slight tick-a-tick-a noise from the
gearbox (which is manual) and wonder if the two things might be related.
Damned Land Cruisers....
Andy