[johnsma22]

to the board by the way.

Anything other than the stock spec cam and you can throw the 22ft/lb torque spec from the manual out the window. Your cam specs are most definately not stock. Torque the rocker nuts to that spec and you can rest assured that all your valves are off their seats. I made the same mistake some years ago. Your best bet is to get rid of the bottleneck rocker studs and go with big block chevy studs and polylocks and adjust to zero lash plus 1/4 turn to preload the lifters and lock them down. You can't just loosen the stock nuts you have now, they will continue to back off over time and you will have problems. You want to get this right before you continue as proper cam break in is critical. Once the motor is running you want to run it at about 2000 rpm for about 25 minutes then change the oil. Order a copy of Jim Hands book How to Build a Max-Performance Pontiac V-8's from our host here at PY. The proper valve adjustment procedure is on pages 80 and 81. The info in this book is invaluable. Get it before you go any further. Here is the link. Hope this helps.
http://216.178.81.107/iwwida.pvx?;it...0%201?comp=py1

John