Ticking at the front? This is just a theory but what if it's a lifter that keeps bleeding down. This would create a ticking ...and produce a miss especially when the RPMs go up. Did you isolate the cylinder that's missing( pull a plug wire off one at a time and replace until you find the one that doesn't make it sound different)?Once you have done this you can check the lifters by taking off the valve cover and push on the rocker as the motor is running. The one that ticks is the bad one. The only other thing at the timing cover is the fuel pump....how's that? I would check it too! Good luck.