Yep, I've owned a '78, '84 (three engines), and now an '85.  All five engines had this issue, including both a freshly rebuilt 2.0 air cooled and a 2.1 WBX engine, both with new lifters.  The '78 production shop rebuild also had piston slap, but that's another issue (crappy aftermarket pistons and cylinders, still the bane of any rebuild).

It's best to drive at a decent speed until the lifters pump up, like on the freeway.  It can take my '85 20 minutes to stop clacking.  I've had some relief from using MMO in the past (a quart replacing a quart of oil at oil change, and topping off with oil every 500 miles or so as it burns off), but it could be my imagination.  I'll try it with the '85 and see what happens.  Shouldn't need to do this with a fresh rebuild though.

Stuart

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of John Goubeaux
Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2013 11:05 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Noisy Valve lifters

Yes, I was not necessarily doubting anyone's explanation BUT rather since I paid good money for a rebuilt engine thought it a reasonable question to ask, especially of the folks who sell the rebuilt engines.

Thanks for the input.

-john