oh, by the way i now know is isn't close to a knock, by neighbor was running her Corolla with NO oil for about 2 months and now has a nice knock on start up. Totally different sound, but my tick is actually louder than her knock.

 

Clicky clickity clickity. That's the sound my 3.0 made before the #4 spark plug shot out it's hole. Just thought I would tell you to check the torque on the spark plugs if you haven't already. It sounds exactly like a noisy Toyota valvetrain/injectors/bad 22re timing chain/etc.