Valve Lash? Camshaft malfunction?

[paulmaione@videotron.ca (Paul Maione)]

hey list,

i'm having a quite bizzare problem with my 16v. sounds like
something in the head is going wack.

while driving, when i apply minor amounts of throttle
i'll hear it. if i floor it, it'll start later on in the powerband.
also when i release my foot off the gas slowly it'll do it also.
it sounds like a metallic knock coming from directly in the middle
of the head. it'll also do it when the car isn't under load. it
usually occurs around 3500 rpm's.

another odd thing. my old motor (the one i had in last year) used
to do the same thing. the motor that i have in now makes the exact
  same noise and it's a completly different motor. one thing that occured
to me this evening is that i'm running Schrick 260/276 cams and when
you buy schricks, there are no dots on the sprokets to line them up. the
guy that i bought the cams from had premade dots on them, so under
my assumption, i figured that they we're ready to go. it's is possible that
they're not lined up in the head? i figure it's most probably the cams
because they we're in my old motor also.

i'm also running a Kent Cam Sproket that is set at dead stock.

help me out! i'm blowin my mind!

thanks

paul