yeah, it's kind of a crapshoot, diagnosing from afar. But this points out what I've said for quite awhile: it's a good idea, to check and make sure pushrods are spinning on a fresh rebuild. If the pushrods are spinning, the lifters are spinning, and that is important for new (and old) cams and lifters to live. I've suggested drilling holes on the inside facing wall of some old v.covers and temporarily installing them so that you can view the spinning(hopefully) pushrods on initial start up. After cam break in, if all is well, you can remove them and install your permanent v. covers.
