[Ragtop Man]

Something's not kosher, here.

Once the heads were off, did you turn the motor with a breaker to verify the #8 piston is going up and down? There is definitely some schmutz in there, but not enough to get to no compression.

Then, did you pull the lifters on the #8 position? They are pretty easy to test, you should feel the spring as you pump them with the pushrod. Lifters don't live forever. A stuck lifter will come back with an overnight soak in rislone and pumping for a few minutes in some clean motor oil.

What about the rocker studs? Any cracks or breaks in the rocker, any galling apparent in the pushrod ball? Friend of mine put a pushrod through a cheapo stamped rocker arm.

Did you test the cam lift on the #8 lobes with a checker and dial indicator? It won't be like a fresh -067, but you should be within a RCH of random adjacent cylinders.

IMHO, the play is to get the heads freshened while they are off, clean the deck spotless, but be hyper-careful not to get any shizz in the valley, swap out the timing set and put the heads back on to retest, with the lifters double checked, springs checked, etc.

Just my $.02 and worth every cent,

BOB