I built an 04 5.7 thats in my truck by using the later eagle years pistons, because I had a set with 5k miles. To get the compression up, I had .020 taken off the heads. No tick or any valve train noise at all. Used the stock length pushrods. Seems longer pushrods would fix the noise. My 06 magnum, I regret not doing the same when the engine was apart.