John

although you haven't read all the thread you focused my problem so good! First of all about my stock valve covers, I removed internal baffles to avoid the rockers hitting the steel. Of couse the noise is the same with or without them installed. Too much tolerance inside the lifters ..this is wahy I put 20W50 and actually I noticed oil thicker helps a bit. About noise what makes me scary to test the car is that ticking level is not as uniform as a kinda sewing machine..I heard some (maybe 2 or 3) tickings are louder and I guess those valves loose some degrees in opening-closing too. Anyway I will try to record the sound and to post a short video here, thank you for now.