Right now, I can't rule out anything except the noise is NOT the rockers hitting the valve cover....the sound is similar to "that" sound by the way. I am thinking of making a video of this POS and putting it up so people could listen. I bought a 12$ stethoscope at Napa today, and will give it a try tommorow and update this post.

Now, regarding clearance and spring pressures...All was well with that area. And again, this is definately ISOLATED. The LH side of this engine sounds fine, and RH side is "one or possibly 2" locations. The engine runs/idles fairly smoothly for such a cam profile IMHO, although at times I almost think it's hitting on 7 cyls...Look, I am not sure what to expect from this cam regarding what is "normal and expected" versus "somethings wrong"!!!

I just want to eliminate the simple things first..hopefully before I drop a valve and go back to square one.