Project B seams to have a loose heat sheild around the exhaust manifold area, which seams to be causing the tapping noise... its very very noisy when cold, not so bad when warm & silent when cruising @ 75mph.

If i put my hand down around and grab the heat shield it feels very loose, and I can make a similar tapping sound just by moving it, and the part futher inside the engine bay taps part of the exhaust which turns down towards the ground...

As you can see from the picture, the washer that orginally held it in along with the nut has disapeared...

I am pritty sure this is the cause of the noise... any ideas on how i can clamp it down again, and reduce this noise?

I have just removed my heat shields to get to the hand brake cable and it looks like the stud has been sheared off and so there is nothing left to attach a nut to.

A number of the holes in my heat shields had enlarged themselves to the point the bolt was useless. Some washers solved the problem.

In your case tunnie it looks like the bolt has sheared. There isn't much you can do really. It's not really worth drilling and tapping - well unless you feel like it.

I'd make sure the other heatshield bolts are doing their stuff and add washers if necessary, hopefully that will be enough. You could try packing some heatproof padding underneath (a bit of a bodge) to stop the ratttle.

Marks DTM has the most straightforward solution to this...

Simply clamp with a large jubilee clip!