Fresh engine, wiped cam? Tick? (new pics added)

the wear pattern is significantly different from lobe to lobe and does not look very good to me. You can also see the wear pattern on the bottom of the lifters. The wear circle varies in diameter and that tells you that the lobes are worn differently from one to the next.
Like I said earlier, the flat tappet cam lobe is not flat, the tappet is. The cam lobe is ground on a slight angle. this accomplishes two things. It causes the cam to thrust fwd against the retainer plate, keeping it stable, and it rotates the lifter as it lifts it. This causes the lifter to rotate as it slides over the lobe. This is the wear pattern you are seeing.
It does not look good to me.
I would probably yank the cam and have a shop equipped for cam grinding do a quick regrind and polish on it, but first have it checked by someone in the know.

I will take a pic of one of my good used cams for ya and post it.


PS Now you know where the term "worn flat" came from. The lobe is literally worn flat and will not rotate the lifter, which will then wear out quickly.
How did they decide what pushrod length? were the heads/block milled? If so, stock length can be too long and will increase the amount of preload on your lifters. This could be the cause of the problem.