Who knows factory cylinder heads ?

The hydraulic lifters cant be pushed down via the pushrod because they are locked full of oil. If you have any looseness, then likely the cam and lifters have worn and are junk.
Jim
Thank you, that was my thinking also. However, I had the intake off last summer and I inspected the cam lobes and there was zero visible wear on any lobes. I removed 1 lifter to inspect wear on bottom. No wear. I can’t quite recall, but I think I remember it being a solid lifter. Not, sure of that memory though. Shouldn’t all 72 - 360’s have the same lifters or rocker arms ? What’s the side effects of a worn cam, valves not opening far enough, but what side effects does that cause ? Like I said, I looked at cam with intake off last summer. Zero, cam wear or grooves that I could see. Nice and smooth.