might have a answer to this i finally got in to a project i had in with same engine, same sort of thing was over heated and i changed the head on it but reused the camshafts and vvt assembly and rebuilt it,, so when i had rebuilt it i did not see that the spring fingers were not in the correct groove in the rear of the lift buckets , i will put a pic of how they should sit to the
bucket you'll under stand when see it,
i found they kept coming off the groove then would sit on the rollers and cause a issue where the lift on valves and this would cause all kinds of issues on some cylinders, there is a special tool to place these spring fingers link below for a idea and boy its way to much money, i found two pairs of vice grips to keep spring curls down worked and sorted it,, when everything is correct you can rotate the inlet camshaft and have zero noises ,
link below for special tool
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looking at your diagnostics and smooth running's and number 1 cylinder ie gearbox end is different form the others would say either have same fault on 3 cylinders of a fault within cylinder 1,