PIA comes to mind lol....Thanks for all of your help on this.

Thank you. I wanted to do a running compression test, but I can't get to the injector connector.....I'm wondering if I can disable that injector in HP Tuners temporarily to run this test.....? That would really help figure this out. Either way, this is good and will help --- thank you again!

@Crazed Performance Repair Thank you again! Helping so many people out---really appreciate it.

GOT IT!!! I went down and bought a scaler tool from harbor freight for $27! Popped out in 2 or 3 hits. Was able to then seat the lifter and can spin the engine over with rocker arm on and it now opens the valve! Thank you for your help and product!!!!

Also, what is the best position of the cam/lifter to do this process. On the base circle or over the nose? Thank you.

When it started, you heard a clunk and it started tapping right away. Rocker was sloppy loose when I got the cover off.

I think it would be safe to say that I didn't get that lifter to latch last time. Referring to how you would tap on the top of the rocker before you tightened it all the way down with a screwdriver handle, etc to make sure they were seated....? I must not have done that right. Hoping so anyways

I used some aftermarket 5/16 .080 wall units. I took it back apart and #7 rocker arm is loose. #4 is good. New pushrods are not bent. Rocker arm shows some wear on the body where the old pushrod was banging against it. The seat looks fine. I looked at all of them with a jewelers headband magnifier.

All the pushrods showed very slight wear in the middle of the pushrod. The 2 pushrods that bent were messed up. Heavily gouged up at lifter area as well as head area.

I'm also trying to better understand why it was only tapping away in 4 cylinder mode but drove fine in 8 cylinder mode prior to it failing outright? Wouldn't that indicate that the lifter spring was broken or the lifter was hanging up internally? And finally, I'm concerned about the lifter rotating in the plastic bucket. When I checked the lift on #1 intake, the lifter didn't drop as it went over the nose. I would consider that normal, but #7 intake valve did follow the cam profile no problem (didn't have to physically push the pushrod/lifter/dial indicator down as it went over the nose). Worried that bucket may be excessively worn or damaged......thoughts? Am I over analyzing it......hope so lol