nothing was smoking. Everything else seemed ok, although i'll admit I'm flying by the seat of my pants right now and I didn't have the car for long until this problem cropped. up.
Previous owner swore he and his brother re-built the whole engine about 40,000 miles ago for their mom before she got a honda and parked it. He seemed genuinely surprised when i let him know about the cam. He also had a whole shop and some completed projects if that lends him any credence.
I'll have to think about what do do. I'm considering just doing the cam and lifters and crossing my fingers. can't get much worse though. I am paranoid about killing the new cam during break in though after reading so many horror stores.
Whatever I do i'll make a write up with pictures so people can learn/laugh at my success/failure.