OK! I pulled a rocker off and used a wood dowel and pushed down on the pushrod and it didn't move. The motor has not ran since yesterday afternoon. On a hydraulic lifter I would think it would compress at least 1/8", or enought to be noticeable. When I losened the rocker nut it did take a full turn to losen the rocker. My main problem is that the motor is hard to start when its cold and the valve train makes noise, even hot. Which doesnt make sense because if the lifters were solid they would quit down once the motor came to temp. On a 24 pitch thread the lead per therad is .041, which would mean the the valves are staying open some fraction of that. And after all this why would the valve train make noise if the motor did have solids and they were adjusted to tight? Thanks for all the help.