I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it sounds like a rod knock.

If you hear a ticking noise, that could just be the lifters that you hear. The noise should go away after filling to the proper oil level though. If it is more like the louder "machine gun" noise like you put it... Rod knock.

In the beginning, it wont be present at lower rpms... but if you floor it, once you reach the higher end of the rpms it will definitely be noticeable - then disappear when you change gears until the new gear reaches the mid to high rpms, where it returns. The knock will match the rpms of the engine... Higer rpms, faster knock. The good news... You can drive it like that for a while before it will finally kill over... The bad news... If you don't get it fixed, it WILL kill over. Fixing this is not cheap. You can take it into a dealer or shop to have the exact problem diagnosed - after all, I am only basing this diagnosis off of what you have posted and haven't seen the car... They can test for it and tell you for sure. Otherwise, if you have the ability to record the sound and upload it, I could tell you if the rod knock is your problem.

 

If it does turn out to be a rod knock, you can repair it one of two ways.

1) Tear apart the motor and replace all damaged parts. Who knows how much damage has been done though, and you will have to replace various items simply because you took the motor apart.

2) Replace the motor. This is probably what will end up being the most cost efficient. If you choose option #1, there is not really any way to tell for sure what the extent of the repairs will be until the motor is apart, and at that point there is no turning back as you have already paid the shop the labor charges for the most labor intesive part of the process.

If you are doing it yourself, go with #1 to see if you can salvage things.

Either way, if this is your problem, you need a new motor. Either a rebuilt one (option 1) or a new one all together (option 2).

Sorry man, I wish I had better news for you.

 

Any updates?

 

Well hopefully it gets you by in the meantime...I did however see an engine on ebay I think it was like 2500 or something like that...not sure where your located but many places seem to have some parts for jags every now and than...