Hey guys as you know I did a cam swap about 2 months ago
Stock p-rods
LS6 Springs
218/228 .525 .525 112 LSA

...Everything ran smoothly until I went to Austin for thanksgiving and when I came back the ticking got louder. Its not a slow tick its more a of a constant tick from 2000 RPMS up and sounds like its coming from the engine. I also did the cat delete recently and welded pipe in place, and dont see any major leaks? The truck only has 37,000 Miles on it and if it is a dead or sticky lifter why would it be going out this quick? I know its not the piston slap issue cause its constant all the time. It actually tends to be louder at cold startups. Ive heard of people upgrading to LS7 Lifters but dont the 4.8/5.3s like 06 and up come stock with LS7 lifters? some people say this noise is normal but it cant be since the noise got worse. I have a DTC that comes up sometimes then goes away for long periods of time and Allen told me its either a little vac leak or a bad 02 sensor, I dont know if it has to do with that though. Im taking it to the dealer tommorow, I have a friend who works up there whos gonna check it out for me. If its a bad lifter, how hard and expensive is it to replace it? Could it possibly be a loose header bolt or have to do with welding pipe in place of my cats? Any knowledge to this problem is greatly appreciated!