<VV> collapsed lifter?

[Steve Brennan]

I recently replaced my defective pressure plate, which solved my clutch
problems (thanks to all for the good advice).  Since then my Spyder has been
running beautifully, and my daughter is having the time of her life showing
it off to her friends.  But when she drove  home this evening, I noticed a a
rather loud and distinctive tapping that was not there list night when I
pulled the oil cooler to fix a leak from the seals.  My daughter said she
noticed that funny tapping sound when she left for school this morning, so
the car had 10-12 miles of driving on it when I noticed it.  

 

I traced the sound to the front of left head, and pulled the valve cover.
Everything seemed tight enough, but I adjusted the valves on #6 anyway.
Upon checking things one last time, I happened to push down on the rocker
arm, and found I could easily  compress the lifter.  It still has spring
tension on it, but that is all.  Is this a collapsed lifter?  From reading
the VV archives, I see that some say these lifters rarely collapse, so I
wanted to get some advice before I replace the lifter(s).  

 

Thanks,

Steve Brennan

1962 Spyder Coupe