'69 340LA Valve/Lifter noise/rattle

[1970Charger500]

OK, full disclosure, engine internals is what I know the least about. Every other nut and bold on this car I've removed before and have some knowledge of..

Cars unfortunately only been started a few times in the last 3 years. All I know engine-wise is it originally had a .780 lift cam and was setup for drag racing.
That cam was replaced ~20-25 years ago. Wish I knew with what-- I may have a receipt somewhere. It runs good tho, has good power, always has. Edit.. it's a 1969 340.

However, I've had this "tick" noise on the driver side for quite some time, although now its worse (maybe, probably, from sitting). Its more of a rattle than a tick.

I pulled the valve covers after thinking about getting the sound on video. I did get a video of me checking for play in the rocker arms, which I've linked to below.

Read a bunch of other posts on this topic and based on those..
1. There is no up and down play in the rockers
2. There is side to side play, seems excessive to me, but again I don't know this stuff, maybe it's normal. I did compare it to the passenger side and there is side to side play there too although less. This side to side sounds exactly like the noise when running. I did use a stethoscope on the valve cover and all are noisy on the driver side. All quiet passenger side.
3. Most push rods spin freely (all will spin freely after rotating the engine some-- makes sense that that's normal).
4. I've not checked compression
5. Noticed a fair amount of crud on the rockers
6. There does appear to be a few TINY specs of metal(?) on the valve covers (both sides, actually). No indication of the rockers hitting them.

Snapped a bunch of pictures on google photos. Driver side and passenger. Video mentioned above is in the driver side album.

Any advice on what I should be looking for here? Is the side to side play here normal? My main concern is driving it like this and making maters worse.
Again appreciate the info, greatly!

 

[Outsider]

.780" lift is like the roller cams that I used to run when I was class racing, and to run one that big, there would whole lot of other components that would not be normally use on a street engine, like really high rate valve springs etc. Hard to imagine just a cam change out to a street set up, without a complete engine re-do.

That said, a tick is often a hyd lifter sound, sometimes they get debris in them and need to be pulled, taken apart and cleaned. Can you post a pic of the rocker arm and pushrod set up?

 

[Bighouse]

Header leak? Just thinking simple stuff first

 

[RemCharger]

Post pics.

 

[1970Charger500]

Pictures are linked above.. i'll post some here tho

 

[1STMP]

What's your oil pressure?
Some of those rockers look to
be a little dry like you're not getting
much oil up top.

 

[WileERobby]

Have you checked and eliminated the possibility of an exhaust leak before going through all that ?

 

[1970Charger500]

What's your oil pressure?
Some of those rockers look to
be a little dry like you're not getting
much oil up top.

actually, oil pressure gauge isn't hooked up-- that's something I need to prioritize and check for sure!

Have you checked and eliminated the possibility of an exhaust leak before going through all that ?

Like intake leak? No, but the noise is pretty obvious on the valve cover with a stethoscope, doesn't that eliminate it being an exhaust leak?

 

[WileERobby]

Like intake leak? No, but the noise is pretty obvious on the valve cover with a stethoscope, doesn't that eliminate it being an exhaust leak?

Noo... intake leak and exhaust leak are entirely two different animals. Where is your exhaust port... right below the valve cover. That 'could' be the noise. I eliminate that before pulling off a valve cover. Of course, it could be a stuck lifter, or another issue in the valvetrain.