Since buying the car I noticed the engine sounded a little noisey, as if the valves needed to be adjusted. I knew it wasn't bottom end as I've had a previous car with a knocking bottom end so wasn't too concerned about it blowing up as such. I've never actually adjusted valves before so my good mate Tony came over to give a hand as he had the tools and the knowledge.

Upon adjusting the valves, 3/4 of them were extremely tight (in regards to clearances) and 1/4 were quite loose. With them all adjusted to spec the light tapping noise went away and she sounded 'normal' again. Also had the first time of looking inside the motor, looked quite dirty with some gunk on top so we cleaned it up. Even had a genuine Honda timing belt on it, no idea when this was replaced so might look into a timing belt service next year.

Dirty:

Adjusting the valve clearances:

Valves adjusted, cleaned the top section

Cleaned underneath the rocker cover but forgot to take a photo of the cleaned product, so heres how it was beforehand, you can guess the result:

Noticed the timing belt pushed to the edge, couldn't see any signs of it rubbing on anything so left it as is for now:

Decided to check the spark plugs as we were there, quite dirty and fouled. It's expected to be caused from the car running cold, when driving around it doesn't seem to build up much heat, making the car run rich as the ECU thinks it's warming up still (what I was told). Assuming the thermostat is stuck open, or maybe theres no thermostat for some reason, however I'll order a new Honda thermostat and flush the coolant as well. Once running fine I'll then put some new spark plugs in as well.