Mine has never made any ticking noises, so I don't know either.
You're gonna want to know about breaking it in. There is no break-in "period", but rather a break-in "method". Drive the car in as many different ways you can, i.e., do lots of stop/go, lots of sustained highway driving, several hard decelerations, and yes, even stomp on it like you're Gone in 60 Seconds! It won't hurt it. The owners manual has a section on this.
Think of it as litterally teaching the car all the various "jobs" it will have to perform for you. The more varied, the better it learns, somehow. I varied my driving every time I took mine out during the first 3-4k miles or so. Now at 11k miles, I love the way my GT performs!
Congrats on the new baby!
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"Back in the day" owned a '66 289 and later a black '68 289.
Current - '00 white GT w/K&N and Flowmasters. Otherwise bone stock.
ET-13.952@98.87 RT-.507 60'-2.09
Son #1 - '87 GT stock
Son #2 - '89 LX 5.0 stock