valves ticking i think

Whatever you need to do to do it, get an oil pressure guage on it so you can make sure the oil pressure is ok.
Then it's entirely possible that the lifter noise will clear up after it's run for a bit.
It's normal for the lifters to rattle a little at start for a few seconds.
1 quart of ATF in the engine oil can clean that up usually if it persists.