oil pressure is measured by the force in which the oil pump is pumping engine oil up to the engine block. the psi reading on the oil pressure meter simply tells an x amount of force being generated by the oil pump, hence telling us that the pump is working. we know that hydraulic lifters need oil to be hydraulically pumped up. now, if we know that the oil pump is working fine, then the golden question is, why is there not enough oil for the lifters to work as it should?
the disadvantage, rather misunderstanding, of looking at psi (force) measurement on the oil pump when in comes to hydraulic lifters, is that while the pump may be generating force, it DOES NOT tell us if the oil which was pumped up to the engine is actually staying up in the engine !!... upward and downward movement of oil is measured by flow, not psi....and here lies the problem. oil may be pumped upwards by good force but it may also be flowing downwards at a non OEM spec rate, hence starving the engine & lifters of oil.
Lets test. the flow discipline of oil inside the engine block is controlled by the oil pump relief valve, whereby a spring mechanism will contract, thereafter opening a valve/piston and allowing oil to flow back down to the oil pan, thus inhibiting excessive pressure build up caused by too much oil in the engine block. now, over time, the contraction and expansion of this spring will wear its elasticity down i.e the spring gets softer. once this happens, the spring is contracting easier than it should & allowing more oil to flow back down to the pan (out of OEM spec).
so, the result is this : High oil pressure (oil pump pumping hard & high psi reading), high flow rate (oil moving upwards and downwards at fast rate), BUT LOW oil volume in the engine block (less oil retained in engine block). thus, starving hydraulic lifters of oil...and the tik tik sound. The hard work of the oil pump is being undone by the soft relieve valve/spring which is actually allowing the oil to drain right back down!!
now we see that good psi reading on the oil pressure meter DOES NOT necessarily mean that there is oil in the engine block!! and changing the lifters will not solve the problem. someone mentioned that new spec lifters have larger inlet holes in them. this may (only may) solve the problem temporarily as it would allow more oil to enter the lifters. considering that less and less oil is being retained in the engine block over time (caused by the ever softening spring), the tick tick sound will eventually come back to haunt you, guaranteed.
to prove this, when new (in referring to a new engine & new oil pump), the tik tik sound is not evident, proving that the lifter's inlet hole diameter at OEM spec is already sufficiently large. hence, having larger inlet holes will only mask the problem short-term, not solve it.
Hope this helps to save some money.