Phil, I'd like to ask you a few questions, but I haven't got into the motor yet so some of them maybe darn right silly. First I want to thank you for Joe Caruso e-mail address. I seen a couple of people had his @ntlworld wrong. Joe is sending me the improved pump and gears so I'll have some more direct knowledge in a while.
You said your big end bearing journal was just fine no scouring or wasn't oval. So I'd imagine the oil pressure was okish, but the journal on the camshaft you were indicating the lobe seemed to have some scouring. Do you think there might be some general oil restriction to the heads? I put an oil pressure gauge on my and found about 53 psi, but once the oil cooler kick in pressure dropped to 43 psi at best no matter rpm's. That seemed to be system wide the lines to feed the heads could cause the pressure to drop even further. I've just took my readings where the oil sending unit is and not at a point on the heads themselves. Maybe someone has some real numbers?
Rocker arm geometry looks a little off maybe its an optical illusion, the tappet end of the rocker arm seems past the point of being perpendicular. Once the rocker arm gets on that side of its arc it becomes a real sweeping motion. Have you tried any layout dye across the top of the valves and tappets(tappet might rotate)? You said you had a valve guide that was .030 oversize, maybe the motor is sensitive in that respect. I don't think I've encountered a guide with that much wear.
