So after some drama, I made it to Midwest Truck Nats.
Got most of the way there and stopped on the offramp so I could adjust my timing ever so slightly. Get out of the truck and have one of those "wth is all over the side of my truck???". Go around to the front and realize that my water pump had pushed a piece of it's gasket out. Luckily I had stopped to fuss with my timing and caught it before it lost much coolant.
So after some scrounging around in my toolbox I found the correct size allen wrench and a gallon of coolant. After I tightened the bolts to a slow drip, I was able to make the 20 minute drive to the auto parts store on the way back home. Registration didn't end until ~1pm so I figured I had time. Went home and got the water pump gasket changed out in just under an hour and headed back out.
No more leak and it ended up being a good show. Here are some pics:
Burnout contest was fun to watch
Met a couple of you guys, but couldn't stay long because we had a busy weekend.
On the way home is where the problem started up again. Like I said in the previous post, I just had an actual shop set the valve lash which I believe they did correctly (though it still burns me because I take pride in doing almost everything myself). The valvetrain tick just won't go away. It is pretty loud this time. Could be a bad roller lifter, could be a lot of things. The thing is...I don't care anymore. So the motor went on Craigslist.