That's interesting, I have had a valve job done, maybe another guy's gonna loose his life soon :-) No, I don't think it's that because as far as I can recall it wasn't the full job, only regrinding the seats and angleing the valves, no new guides were installed.
And another thing: I thought that if you set the engine cold it doesn't matter as long as you have hydro lifters, becasue they take up all the preload you give them. ???
What I want to know is: When does the plunger move in the lifter? If it doesn't move except to take up the wear in pushrods and valvestems, how can it pump oil up the pushrod? But I'll put it together again today and let you know how I'm getting on.
Thanks a lot so far guys!