@Oldmanmopar are you suggesting to run all 50w or just a quart or two? @mopowers what is an easy way to verify a flat lobe without pulling the cam? Thanks again guys for all of the suggestions. Very much appreciated!
If the lobe was wore the lifter would have been wore also. The lifter will wear as fast as the cam lobe.
Increasing the weight of the oil to determine if its to much bore clearance issue. A straight weight oil will change the ticking if that is your problem. We had 20-50 Joe Gibbs race oil in the trailer we poured into the 340 and the tick cleared up. We tore the intake off. That is when we found the wore lifter bores and the smaller diameter lifters.
We tried talking him into lifter bushings when the engine was built. he didn't want to spring for the cost at the time. Now he wishes he did. watch this video.
We have a BHJ lifter bore fixture. this is what we use.