Just an update. Got myself a timing belt kit and put it in. Timing is all good, and it starts fine. The noise is still there though and is worse if anything. Got a bit paranoid and pulled the casing off and had a look at the tensioner. When i set it, i rotated it anticlockwise, and then rotated the engine twice clockwise and readjusted. Re-rotated the enginge again and it was still in position. When i looked at it again tonight after having driven it a bit, the pointer is off the scale to the right (well beyond the 'new belt' position) when the engine is off. Once i run the engine, the pointer moves back to the correct position. Is this right? Or should the pointer always be in the correct position?