Engine Checks During Strip down

[chimman]

I’ve recently notice a drop of in power and increased ticking noise from my TVR 5l engine. I’m planning on a top end strip down to investigate for cam wear etc. I’ll also be removing the sump to fix a small oil leak, so will have the opportunity to inspect from underneath.

Last year I did check the lifters and set the pre-load using adjustable push rods, but only did a visual inspection of the camshaft as the engine has only done 10k miles. After putting it back together I still had the ticking noise, albeit not as loud.

This time I will measure the cam lift on each valve and will be fitting a set of YT Roller rockers. This time i'm also going to remove the heads, to properly check the pistons and bores.

Other than the obvious visual checks, Are there any other critical checks I should be doing while the engine is stripped down?

[SuperV8]

A compression & leak-down test is simple & might help.