I don't have those, I have the older type of rocker. But I'll inspect them. And try BUICKRATs advice.
Still have to look into this; but I found a tip somewhere on this forum to exchange a quart of oil with a quart of atf. I did that and most of the ticking noise went away, only very subtle now. So a lifter seems legit as the culprit. I have to make time in the near future to look a little deeper on this. If I take the valve cover off, does it spray oil?
Well, we're 7 months later, but I just had a look. First I took the rocker shaft out and inspected it. And there was some wear to be seen. At the place where the rods contact the rockers 3 rockers have some odd wear. Also the pads(?) are worn out on the side, including the rocker arms on that side. So I cleaned it, filed the sides of the pads and assembled it again. I inspected it idling and it looked ok. I changed the oil (which was diluted with atf) and filter and took it for a spin. I wasn't able to hit the highway today, but at the end of the drive I didn't hear the tick and I have driven it that long that it otherwise would make noise. I'll keep an eye on it.
That wear of the cup is really weird, because there is no contact on the outer edge. I have a special set of TA Performance pushrods, because the old ones were a bunch of random rods: So I measured the length of each individual valve according the TA manual. Seems ok now. Perhaps it happened then? I don't remember. Was looking for old pictures of the rocker assembly, but don't have them. Edit: what do you mean with alignment?
Alignment meaning do the pushrods pass thru the holes in the head relatively centered or is there indication of rubbing on the sides of the pushrods?
I can happily confirm the tick is gone. Just had a higway trip and no tick to be heard on hot idle. Apparently it didn't come from a lifter? I cleaned the rocker assembly and touched a few parts with a file. Oh well. I'm happy the sound is gone.
