5.7R Cold Engine Noise

I'm hoping someone can shed some light on a problem that seems to be common. Vehicle is a 1999 Yuke with the 5.7 R and 142k miles. I get the cold morning knock that will go away within a minute. I noticed that most of the threads that pertain to this cover the 5.3/6.0 engines. I have talked with a few friends that have the same or similar vehicle and the also experience the same thing. The noise is primarily on the driver's side and it sounds like a loud lifter. A friend's '99 Suburban does exactly the same thing on the same side. Is it piston slap like the other motors in question? Other than that, the motor runs strong and I'm getting around 15-16 MPG. Thoughts anyone? Thanks.

sounds like piston slap.....the dealer says its normal!! they suck....

Thanks for your reply tommbo. I had heard of the problem with the 5.3/6.0 engines but was unsure if it pertained to the 5.7 R code. Due to the high milage, I guess things like this are expected. Never had a problem with the older 5.7 K code. Put over 200k on the last one and it went away still running strong. Oh, well.:shakehead