My 351 has a ticking sound when cruising, kind of like a lifter tick. It doesn’t seem to be there at idle. I checked the header bolts and nothing loose.

I pulled the valve cover off on the passenger side to have a look and noticed the baffle looked beat up.

It looks like someone beat on it to gain rocker clearance and then drilled holes in it so the engine can still breathe. I’m wondering it the rockers are still making contact.

Any issue removing the baffle completely? Just running a breather on the cover, no PCV valve.

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