E30 Zone

just bought an e30 316 2 door 1989 ,12000mls
there is a loud rattle from cold start that lasts a few seconds ,the noise stays but is faint,no loss of power,runs well ,was told it could be a cam or cam bearing. bringing it home tomorrow. would help if any suggestions or likely solutions are available before i pull the motor out????
cheers

i have just got a 316i 1990 and i have the same or similar problem.
upon reading many posts on this topic i would say that first you need to check the cam for visual wear and tear also have a look at the followers and tappets.
this may be achieved by using feeler gauges to see if you have wear on the followers or the cam.
i will be looking into this more at the weekend when i get to lift the rocker cover off mine and check cam and followers.
i have got a haynes manual which should give me the tollerances of wear on the cam and followers.
as i'm not a mechanic this seams to be a good place to start.
does anyone have any more ideas on this?
hope this helps mate

sounds like its the hydraulic tappets

had the same issue and it was the tappets