Let's hope the "slight ticking" isn't the valves and pistons getting together. Over .500" lift at the valve without special machining is playing Russian Roulette, but I've given you my opinion, based on building several hundred round track engines, up to 600+ HP on the dyno, and they stayed together. What you do with it is up to you. If you advanced the timing without altering the advance curve in the distributor, get ready for some melted pistons.
Jerry

"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln
Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt!
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway
Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!