Stating the obvious....remember, the valve can be held open depending on the cam lobe position. You should try rotating the engine by hand one revolution and watch to see how far it truly closes.

Have you tried running the engine yet? Strange things can happen with the valves. Along with lifters, I replaced all springs and stem seals a few weeks ago. Ran into an issue where the cylinders on the drivers side banks would leak out air faster than the compressor could supply it and that was with the valves closed and rockers removed. I put a block of wood on top of one spring and hit that with a hammer. The valve began leaking massive air. Tapped it again and it sealed. Don't know why, but when you're messing with these things it seems they can shift a bit out of line.

If you haven't started it, be prepared for it to run like absolute ****, till the lifters prime up. I thought mine was a goner till it smoothed out a few minutes later. It runs fine now. Things seem to have seated.

 

Getting a borescope from the zone. The crap one for attaching to my phone is abysmal. There is nothing at the moment to really hold the rocker on place, so I'm ready to try it with a wood block to see if the spring is just shot or pinched or something is just jamming the valve

 

So I got a different borescope but I'm still stuck with trying to see what's holding the valve open. It doesn't appear to close fully as when I manually roll the crank with a ratchet. It look like a half cockd silver band but my problem is I can't see into the runner squarely because of the cowl, other runners don't look the same though. On a diff note does anyone have a timing kit they recommend?

 

Banged on the valve spring still feels like something is holding it down. Trying to find a head gasket kit that's worthwhile and just pull the head. There's practically no tension on that rocker arm unless the cam is down on it, and can slide towards and back by pulling it with my fingers

 

If something is blocking the valve from seating, the stem should not be the same height as the others. Also it will not hold pressure if you try to air it up.

 

Something is holding it open I shoved the camera into the spark plug hole, and could see some of its light bleeding around the edge of the valve I could actually see from looking down the intake side. I guess what amazes me is people who can get the clearest picture when using a borescope

 

I know what you mean just got a snake cam off Amazon with 1K good reviews most were way less. Picture quality is poor at best supposedly 1080p quality but looks more like 480p.

I still say pulling the heads and getting them rebuilt is a much better choice yes way more expensive and time consuming but worth it unless your auto is in poor shape ready for the junk yard.

 

So I finally had time to pull the heads. Passenger looks really good. Driver not so much. Definitely dropped a seat, but luckilynothing grenaded. Going to take them to the machine shop for cleaning etc. Alo the yucky orange thing at the bottom left is the exhaust manifold

 

wow...that was close. no interference. Lucky(i think) What timing chain are you going with? Have you thought of pulling the motor, clean out the pan, change the oil pump?

 

WOW that was close glad you pulled the heads.