i too have a 94 vtec EX sedan and my car was making this sound 10k after i bought it (135k) it wasnt noticeable then. now at almost 180k i'm finally pulling it over for good.

i switched from regular oil to castrol synthetic. my mechanic switched it back to regular on accident during a tune up several thousand miles later.

this is when the car began acting up... 160k miles or so. it got so bad i did two valve adjustments by 170k miles but it did not solve the problem.

at 175k i switched back to synthetic as a last resort. it was driving a lot better for a while, but now the noise has gotten so noticeable under acceleration and idle i can't drive it anymore.

at first i thought it was a top-end noise (valves) but after two valve adjustments i realized it was coming from the bottom end.

i also noticed after i shut my car off i would hear a clicking noise every couple of minutes and the sound of oil dripping onto the oil pan. it eventually started making this noise at idle, also (170k).

now with the belts whirring in time for a timing belt change, and the fuel injectors tapping and the engine knocking under any acceleration, it's time to choose between swapping a new f22b1 in and turbo-ing it or putting in a stock h22.