What should an engine sound like?

DartVadar said
Yup I did! Same kind as you mentioned too, M/T valve covers. I have roller rockers as well, I've heard they can occasionally be noisy.

I guess my main issue is should I be worried if it is in fact valve train noise? Because it really doesn't matter to me if I have that noise, but only if I know nothing is getting hurt in the motor.

I know that you already realize that no one will be able to say for sure that there's nothing wrong. Even if everything was assembled correctly there's still those gremlins. I've seen a new cam eat up new lifters (Crower cam, Crane lifters) within the first hour of run time. Everything was pre-lubed too. My first guess is that you've got that 'hopefully nothing blows up here after I put it together' anxiety going on and are hearing the valve train noise amplified by those valve covers causing you to worry even more. But top engine builders will sometimes lose one before the car makes it out of the shop.

There is also the possibility that your rockers are not fully clearing those valve covers. When I sent Mike (at MRL) my Edelbrock aluminum valve covers to use on the motor he built for me he couldn't use them. The rockers hit. He installed Mopar Performance covers instead.

It's a pain in the butt to have to pull the valve covers off of a nice clean motor but if you're in doubt you probably should so you can inspect things further.