So I started tearing everything down today. Hit a couple of snags so I only got as far as removing the valve covers. I do believe I've kind the source of my ticking noise. My upper manifold gasket was severely bent, god knows why. I also found some loose bolts on the lower manifold. I'm hoping one of those was the culprit. My valve cover gaskets were also in pretty rough shape. But the covers are clean and decreased and in ready to pull the heads tomorrow. Wish me luck.

 

Good luck. Just keep the bolts labeled! Easy to reassemble.

 

So just an update. I was able to remove the lower manifold, headers, and driver side head today. The first head bolt in sequence gave me a lot of problems. It took me about two hours to break loose. I eventually had to dent the fire wall with a hammer and punch to make room for the socket and breaker bar. After that it broke loose since I was able to get the socket seated on well. I also pulled the rockers and push rods from both sides. My DIY shop is closed until Wednesday so I'll be pulling the other head then. For now I'll be cleaning what I've pulled and getting it ready for reassembly. So far so good. I'm just going slow and doing my best to stay organized. This is BY FAR the most I've ever dove into auto repair. My first look at her guts after removing the valley pan gasket.
Driver side head and both rocker assemblies. Not pictured are the push rods but they are safe and still in the correct order.

 

Nice and quick. Good luck again

 

When you get back to it on Wed, remove all of the lifters & see to it that they are each springing @ the rod seat. If the cup isn't moving then you will have to disassemble each 1, clean up the parts with motor oil & put back together functioning to spec. It's very tedious so allow yourself plenty of time. They ride on the camshaft for 100,000K+ miles so I never asked about replacing them with a new set, but I'm sure that is an option. I believe that ticking noises in the top end can sometimes be attributed to the hydraulic lifters being seized. All 16 in my engine were locked up and it took 2 long nights to get the originals back to working order and it's easy to get them out of order doing a job within a job, within a job. I used some numbered & marked egg crates filled with Rotella to keep them in order & soaked for both cleaning & priming.

 

After letting some degreaser soak on it I spent about an hour yesterday cleaning some of the nasty stuff out of the head that I pulled. Several shop towels and a can of brake cleaner later this is my result. I used a soft plastic bristle brush to spruce up some of the larger areas. Still have a little bit to go and the rockers haven't been scrubbed yet but I got a pretty good result with little effort.

 

yeah, that's a world of difference. Keep at it...

 

Looking good man. Keep at it. It will be well worth it

 

Take a good picture of the valley pan area and post it, look for a walked cam bearing.

Look at the holes on you rocker assemblies. There's a small hole there that gets blocked. This can cause a tick.

 

You might want to change injectors now too.