That sounds to me like it should work, at least for isolating the offending cylinder that your noise is coming from. If the noise keeps happening, then one of two things is possible. One, a whole bunch of lifters are bad, or Two, the problem is in a different part of your motor. Either way, you'll have learned something useful. Just remember to keep the intake and exhaust pushrods identified and install them back into the lifter and rocker arm they were hooked up with originally.
