Pelican Parts Forums - Intro and Questions

Hey there, y'all.

I've owned my '87 911 for about 3 years now and managed to have quite a bit of fun with it. I don't normally post here because I've been maintaining a thread over on VWVortex instead. I reference the Pelican forum for just about all of my technical needs that the Bentley or Wayne's book doesn't cover, and I've gotten to a point of needing help, so here I am introducing myself and paying penance (pics for clicks).

Along the way, I've done a front pan and suspension:

https://i.imgur.com/LxFHSpOh.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/APr9FqFh.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/j8xX3xWh.jpg

I've put some unique seats in - Recaro Orthos:

https://i.imgur.com/5CQTwmxh.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/xv4Z1Y4h.jpg

I put in a G50 Wevo in:

https://i.imgur.com/SQv5Fb6h.jpg?1
https://i.imgur.com/rbYRlh1h.jpg?1

I put a Turbo Thomas exhaust on:

https://i.imgur.com/upTPAsth.jpg

I also got a nice detail on it because that's important too:

https://i.imgur.com/EWJcTwQh.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/ssugBUwh.jpg

And a few other things like a mini-starter, speakers, a relay box for headlights and seats, transmission flush, general maintenance, etc etc.

It's a fantastic car despite it's mileage at ~150k. I'm having a blast with it. My latest project has been adjusting the valves. There is 75k on this top end. I have no records as to how extensive the last 'top end' was. Here is where the help comes in.

I'm noticing a few things:

1) Engine ticked before setting valves - I've determined it is solely Intake #6
2) There is little to no smoke on start up
3) I have noticed smoke on decel, but I seem to be able to avoid that if I keep the oil at just below halfway between the dots on the dipstick
4) I used the Kirk tool and managed to pull the whole job off in about 12hrs including resurfacing the exhaust valve covers
5) When adjusting the valves, the feelable gap (when I attempt to rock the rocker back and forth) changes after adjustment, then a 360 rotation of the engine
6) #6 intake continued to tick after adjustment to 0.004
7) I've gone back in again and backed the adjuster off completely to try and look at the cam lobe and don't see anything too exciting
8) Pushing on the valve retainer/stem yields little movement
9) When bottoming the Kirk tool I noticed I can continue to turn the adjustment about an 1/4 or half turn past the 0.000 point??? I wonder if this is the valve being shoved into the worn spot in the guide
10) I attempted to set the valve at 0.003 (using a light snug to bottom it) and go from there

Engine was initially quiet after being set at 0.003, but after a few minutes and some light revving, on comes the tick again. Same valve.

I need someone to tell me what I'm fearing - I have worn guides and one bad one. Does this seem like a realistic diagnosis? Can it be something else? Do I just keep driving this or is the risk of damage to the seat worse than it's worth. Can I get away with another top end only at 150k? Not sure I'm financially ready for splitting the case. Anyone have recent dollar figures for doing an entire rebuild yourself? I could stomach 8-10k.

Thanks for reading,

Al