Valve Noise

Hi all, I’ve got a 95 4x4 2.7l 5spd.
Just got done doing a JDM swap (long story, my dad blew up the old motor). Put a JDM 2.7l in it, put it together, cranked it up and runs fine, except there is a moderately loud ticking. I know the Tacoma tick is a thing, but this ticking goes away above 2k rpms and when you let off the throttle, it goes away while decreasing rpms but after a second of idle it comes right back. A long screwdriver revealed that it is coming from cylinder 3/4 of the exhaust side, in the head.

So I tore the valve cover off, checked valve clearance, and sure enough every exhaust valve was tight (intake was all fine).
The exhaust specs are .01-.014 and they were all in the .008-.009 range, except cylinder 3 was .006 and .008. I pulled the exhaust cam off to remove the shims and when I got to cylinder 3, on the bucket with the .006 clearance, the bucket would not turn around freely, it would get stuck and be hard to turn as I was turning it to get to the slot to pop the shim out.

I am wondering. Can I replace the valve keeper and/or retainer, get new shims, and go?
Could there be more damage that I should worry about?

I should also mention that the engine runs perfectly fine.

 

Are you sure the ticking wasnt coming from the injectors.....
some of them can make a lot of noise.....

a stethoscope would be the way to check those.

 

It really didn’t sound like it was coming from that side of the engine.

But either way cylinder 3 still has tight clearance and this issue…

 

I'd say a cheap borescope purchase, and a look down the spark plug tubes into that cylinder wouldn't be a waste of time or money. But given the fact that it was otherwise running fine, if that borescope checks out, I would just replace the keeper and/or retainer, adjust clearance with new shims, and see what happens.