btw...with Extinct's inline thermostat (180 deg) + the hayden extreme duty fan + clutch ...have not experienced any ticking. none. nada. been months now.

 

Built a 4.0 with low mile 4.6 components (pistons/rods/cam) new cam bearings. New rod and crank bearings. New lifters. New timing chain and gears. New rings. New oil pump.


Ran for 6 weeks with no tick before a crack behind a sleeve developed
Installed all the components minus cam bearings, I got another new set into the 4.6 block with sub 85,000 miles that I didn't want to run due to it having a broken oil pump housing. I obviously used a 4.0 housing in it's place.

Now it has a top end tick (not a sleeve) once warm. I call it part of the character and won't do any diagnostics until it gets worse. This has been 6 months or more and it's still the same. I don't lose sleep over it, the Ford 4.0 v6 ticks even more loudly and those motors were near indestructible

 

mine is definitely heat related. keeping my temps down < 180 seems to stop it from occuring. I'm going to run it til re-occurs. leading me to believe it's a sleeve that moves
when the engine gets to a certain temp.