ok so im hoping this is simplier than what i originally thought. upon further inspection of the rockers and the poly locks i notice there is a nice wear mark on the body of each rocker slot and a matching mark on the shoulder of each poly lock. this leads me to believe that the pushrods were too long and causing it to bind up. im guessing the lifters werent all the way pumped up when i was adjusting and it masked the problem. on a good note my machinist/friend is covering the cost of the new studs, shorter push rods and intake gaskets. im hoping its this simple as it seems to make sense. if it was piston to valve clearance i would have thought you could here the valves smacking the pistons.