Noisy lifter won't go away, it does come and go a bit. Thinking heads may have to come off and yeah spend some money. Question: should I change cam, lifters, pushrods, valve springs if so what to. The better than OEM? Hardened pushrods? Chromoly pushrods? 212 218 cam or 218 224 cam. Single or double valve springs? Or just replace shit lifter and chuck it back together?
Is it easier to pull front off truck to work on it?
Good morning, afternoon, evening(?)
Good questions, but it depends what YOU want to do.
Has the engine been apart before?
If it hasn't, your other head will be sitting on a thicker head gasket than the new head gasket offers.
If it has been apart, maybe pull the Intake, and the head, change the noisy lifter, install one new head and header gasket and done. That is one option.
Considerably more work to change the cam:
The pan has to come off and you need to lift the engine up enough to detach the oil pickup tube from the timing chain cover.
I just pull the rad to be able to get at stuff.
OEM pushrods are designed to flex/bend to prevent high rpm engine damage.
I've never used an off the shelf cam but 236/238 @.050" (ground on a 114) is getting up there for ECU tolerance. Low(er) vacuum than that will trip it up and as you are likely running a stock compression ratio (?) I'd lean towards a milder cam than above, even at sea-level and with a stick for an enjoyable power range and to keep the ECU happy.
And while the heads are off, you might as well have them freshened up and ported so that new cam can show its worth!
Spring pressures don't have to be crazy high. Mine are only 40 pounds more than stock (open).