Hey all,
I had a friend come over and look at what I am seeing and upon a second inspection, things arent AS bad as I thought (I tend to assume the worst). There is some glitter though. I popped open the previous filter and it was not packed full of metal shavings, particles, etc...but did contain trace amounts of the glitter I mentioned.
Yes, it is a fresh build, only 6 to 7 hours of run time. All springs have a shim underneath. I installed new rockers (my old ones were worn) and adjusted the valves and some of the lifters bled off during the process (they were all hard when I started. Measured the lift at a few intake/exhaust valves (from retainer to the head surface) and with my rough measurements (+/- 50 thousandths to be safe) I am not getting anywhere close to the .515/.530 valve lift that I should be. I saw figures ranging from .220 to .400 if I remember (I dont have the paper with me that I wrote it down on).
Is that normal due to lifter bleed down or indicative of having worn some "lift" out of the cam lobes? I have heard that some bleed down is normal, and I have heard that they should remain rock solid once they are pumped up so I dont know what to expect really.
Thanks for all of the advice guys. I feel like I am walking on eggshells because this is a fresh motor so I very much appreciate the insight.