The water pump and alternator bearings are ok, no slop. When it goes in gear the knock gets slightly quieter at idle, otherwise it stays exactly the same.
As for the compression test, it was hot, and I did not add oil to the cylinder before testing it. The reason for the carbon build up is for multiple reasons. First of all the car wasn't put together by me, it was put together by some Tennessee rednecks, I'm just the lucky one who wound up with it. They put a big cam in it, but it has 2.45:1 gears in the rear end. Plus, it always runs rich, I can't seem to get it to quit running rich. My theory is, the engine never got to any decent rpm's while driving, and with it running rich, its just got carboned up. Every time I pull the spark plugs out, they are solid black. They are dry though, so no oil issues.
