My car has always had a second of vvt rattle upon starting, for the two years I've owned it.
A week ago the car completed a trip to Wales where it was driven damn hard. For that week in Wales, it had a few changes from the setup it had been running for almost 2 years before. Different t28 turbo, new turbo gaskets which resulted in an increase of boost and a hdev stage 1 ecu. It was beaten on like that and worked mint all week.
Got back and installed an electronic boost controller, just left to go set it up and the car starts rattling more when moving around at slow speeds. Within 20 miles the rattle sounds like death, we pull over and shut it off. Decide to unplug vvt and start it again, sounds mint again. Another 5 miles later we plug vvt back in and it's still fine. Had thoughts that the boost controller was somehow to blame but it's probably coincidental, but it has remained unplugged ever since.
The following day it drove another 250 miles to get me back home without any issues or performance decrease. However after running on the motorway for a while you can hear it rattle quite unpleasantly once you slow down.
Most people I talk to seem to think it's vvt rattle, however most cases of vvt rattle im seeing, the rattling occurs on idle and goes away upon acceleration. My car currently sounds pretty normal on idle, you can hear a tiny rattle maybe every 10 seconds or so, however if you give it some throttle it doesn't sound right at all. The rattle increases with revs.
I filmed a video from the engine bay and one from the cabin with some free revs and moving off back and forth. Its much quieter in the cabin and once the revs get higher its not actually audible due to the silly exhaust.
Just wanting some more opinions really, wanting to be certain it's vvt rattle before I continue using it. Ordered oil and a filter which I'll change just incase and check for metal fragments. Could film with an external mic in the engine bay to see how it sounds whilst being driven.
If not vvt rattle, then maybe chain tensioner or the chain itself? Or rip bottom end.
Any input would be greatly appreciated!