I'd say about half of the time I drive my car it makes funny sounds, but ONLY when idling or starting up in first.. as soon as I get cruising the sounds stop. I do have a nice exhaust and my rex doesn't sound rice-ish, however, but has a nice bass idle that people say they can hear well from inside their houses.

One sound is a strange sound that I hear when I am in first and am starting the car off. It sounds like a drummer beating on a metallic drum or something..

rat tat tat tat tat! (not like Tupac)

This sound is highly annoying as when I pull up next to people and drive away I know they are saying "wtf was that noise?"

The second noise is the WORST!!! It sounds like a ******* cricket chirping underneath my hood or something. I'll be idling and it will come out of nowhere:

chiiiiiiiiiiirrrrp.... chiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiirrrrrrrrrrrppppppp...... ccccchhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiirrrrrrrrrrrrrrppppppppppppppppppp......... ...........

WTF? Cricket noise mixed with sexy bass exhaust? WTF? IT RUINS EVERYTHING.


I have found that if I have driven my car for a good distance the cricket chirp, and sometimes the metallic drum noise will go away. WTF is happening? I have never been so annoyed in my life.

 

Hmmmm, I've never had the drumming sound. But I did have that annoying chriping sound. It sounded like a bird was stuck in the engine.
But mine only happened when the car was starting to get hot.
It turned out that one of the vacume hoses was cracked or something. I didn't think it was that but the last thing done to my car was the hose job. So I got the mechanic to redo the whole hose job and the chirping sound went away.
Apparently the hoses were too old to get them tie wrapped so I replaced all the hoses with new ones. Problem solved.

The drumming could the the play of the clutch whenever it's not in gear. Have you tried pushing the clutch in and seeing if the sound would stop?

Later,

 

I had a strange chirping noise, it wasn't very loud, but it was enough to be annoying, anyways
I found out it was a result of a non-lubricated hood latch, so I just drenched the latch with wd-40 and the chiring went away....

 

Check your powerplant frame for cracking.

 

Are powerplant frames something that goes out often?
How can you prevent that from happening?

Edit: Is a powerplant frame the same as a crossmember?

 

You might also want to check your belts/pulleys to ensure that it is tightened properly. Too loose and too tight can cause strange chirping noises.

 

the rat tatatatatatat may be exhaust leak in turbo area or exhaust manifold.
Does it sound like 2-cycle motor at idle ? If so, it may be leak. mine has sounds like that, if I listle around turbo areas.

Reza