78 kz1000

my 78 kz 1000 has a ticking sound coming from left side of engine, happens only at a idle, i can put my head against the tank and it sounds brutal, any ideas, plenty of power and i have been running it this way for at least a year, i recently rpace valve cover gasket and everything in there looked good, even checked for the timing chain to be loose, but couldnt find anything, any way to test this to see where or why or should i worry?
thanks,
Ben

Did you check your valve clearances? Excessive clearance can cause loud ticking.

no i didnt, im not that advanced, how would i do that? im mechanically inclined, but never done that, any info would be appreciated.
thanks

Here is the procedure from the file base.

kzrider.com/content/view/36/11/