... i dont have the car with me to test (it's sitting at my parents place since i drove it there) but come to think of it... as soon as i changed gears the noise would disappear.

Similarly at decent enough RPM the sound would disappear. This actually makes a little sense. However i'll try not to get my hopes up.

Thanks heaps for your input man! It's definately helped settled the nerves a little bit. Really dont want to be forking out for a rebuild or new engine just now :P

-Paul