Hopefully there isn't any damage from the valve train, I really cant afford to have the heads rebuilt.

As long as you don't have to little valve clearance on the exhaust valves it should be fine.

Note to self : no HLA on 97 2.2

whats funny is I hear it from the center console the most, which to me would indicate tranny trouble or bad clutch components, but who know, I'll bring it to GD and see what he thinks.

this is also a long shot, but could it be an electrical arc somewhere? I was going to try the water on the coil trick, but then I thought..... hummm water,electricity, probably not a good idea. The dash lights shut off on my wife about a week ago, and then came back on after a restart.

Using water to troubleshoot bad plug wires is a fairly common technique. But plug wire arcing makes a quick clicking type of sound that you probably wouldn't hear in the car, and you would feel a difference in power and may get a CEL.

 

whats funny is I hear it from the center console the most,

This is a clue! Where in the center console? Towards the front? Towards the rear? More in the center?

more towards the front of the console, dash area.