So, I just got my heads back from the machine shop and got it all assembled today. It runs but horribly, it looks/sounds like the valve timing is off, so I
pulled it back apart to check. it is perfect. after a couple hours of head scratching and staring at it I decided to pull the number one plug and tdc the motor with the old coat hanger feeling when the piston stops traveling north. the piston stops coming up and I check the crank pulley notch... it shows 10 btdc! are these really that far off??? so tomorrow I guess I'll reset the cam timing to my findings, It just seems very weird not to mention frustrating. anyone else seen this? or am I just totally missing something?

Jason

Both No. 1 valves should be loose at TDC. (think I remember this correctly)
And so should the No. 3 valves . Think we time the thing to 5 degrees on the crankshaft pulley.

If it were off a tooth, that would be alot more than 10deg.

what was done to the heads at the machine shop?

Did you check the valve clearances?

well, I got it solved today.. turns out the cam timing was right on..guess sometimes you just have to walk away.. took about 5 minutes to double check and decide I jumped to conclusions yesterday. today I started it, heard a vacuum leak, pulled the plentum, fixed it and had it running perfectly in an hour. I guess after working all day my brain shut down.. thanks for the help anyways guys. btw.. I had new valves and seats installed and the lash set at the machine shop, it had a burnt valve.

Often that is good advice when you come to a stumbling block

glad to hear it's fixed