wildly off topic: non diesel 86 cabriolet question

So my girlfriend's about to move in with me; she lives in northern california and I live in southern california. Ignoring all the obvious problems (and advantages) to this she's got to drive her 86 cabriolet about 500 miles in the middle of summer. On my first visit in a couple weeks we drove her car around San Francisco and her car was making a pretty scary tapping / clacking noise that changes with motor RPMs. Popping the hood makes it pretty clear that the sound is coming from the motor area instead of the belt area or some other less expensive part of the car. The car isn't down on power but the sound is sure a concern. It's got plenty of oil, the oil looks clean, and there aren't any obvious issues floating around, and it doesn't look like any spark plugs are arcing to something else (I had that problem in an old volvo).

Any hints on what could be making this noise? It sure sounds like valve train noise to me but I've got limited experiences with these cars. Any ideas?

Sorry about the fact that this has no diesel content except for the fact that if it made the noise at twice the period it does it would make the car sound more like a diesel. As it is, it just sounds broken...

thx,
chris

that is the same noise my 93 toyota truck made at 200,000 miles, it was gone when I did the timing chain

A stuck lifter will make that noise. I don't think it's a terminal noise either, it will just cause added wear on the cam and lifter. They're not too bad to replace, you've got to pull the cam though.

This is just off the top of my head. Your Mileage May Vary.