let me start by saying that i do not daily drive my stang. she has been sitting since sunday. i went out tonight to go the gas station and fill her up. i checked the oil and was half a quart low, kinda odd but i just topped it off and thought nothing of it really. got in the car and started it up and the engine was knocking pretty loudly. it sounded JUST like a rod bearing had spun. i shut it down after a few seconds, and just cant for the life of me believe that it was a rod bearing. the last time i drove her everything was fine. so i fire her back up and she sounded perfect. no knock at all. drove down to the store and filled up, romped on her a little on the way home, and she ran great with no signs of a knock. i even left her running while i pumped gas so i could pop the hood and listen closely. nothing. so my guess is that maybe i have a lifter thats worn and starting to bleed down on me while she's sitting. thats the only thing that makes sense to me. it must have pumped back up right as i shut it off the first time, so when i fired it up again it was pumped up and didnt knock. only problem im having with this theory is that i did not sound like a normal lifter tap from the top end. it definately sounded just like a rod knocking. anyone ever heard of a rod bearing knocking and then stopping? if i did indeed throw a rod bearing guess i'll be doing that 5.4l swap sooner than i thought.