Not always. 2.9's often make lifter noise, even with new lifters. Case in point: my own '89. I replaced the cracked heads, and while I was in there I put brand new lifters from Napa in it. I inspected and cleaned the lifter oil passages (as well as I could), dropped the pan and pulled the oil pump, drilled out and chamfered the oil passage up through the block to the filter adapter, chamfered and smoothed out the edges of the oil passages on the adapter, took apart the pump, inspected, cleaned and smoothed the edges of the rotors and the housing, and shimmed the pressure relief spring. One of the new lifters seemed to be a little sticky when I put the pushrods back in, but I didn't want to pull the head back off to get the lifter back out and I figured it would be fine when it pumped up. The end result of all this? 2.9 lifter noise that comes and goes. Great oil pressure, but the lifters still make noise on and off. Sometimes it's just the one, sometimes several or all of them. Sometimes they're noisy on cold start-up, and then quiet down after a minute or so, sometimes they make noise after going at hiway speeds for a while. I'm thinking about looking for a solid lifter cam for the thing, I'm tired of this already. -TD