More information that answers a bunch of stuff above.
Pulled the driver side rocker shafts & arms....All looks good, no blueing anywhere, wear seems pretty much non existent. Pushrod balls are not worn on either end. Decided to pull the distributor and see if I could get a lifter out, and did get the #5 exh which I have adjusted several times (like all of them), and the lifter appears to be in fine shape.
As for the adjustment, well, it's possible but not likely that is where the problem is, because it seems to run fine for a while, but ultimately begins to run differently. I mostly notice it in the idle, and the valve train gets louder. It also would not explain why each time I have had to take up slack.
This is not a big cam (about .540 lift, 240 duration @50, and 114).
As for coil binding, I'm not noticing any, and I should notice that in the feel of cranking the engine by hand, right?
Is it possible that with new rockers and push rods, that stuff is just working it's way together (sort of a break in thing)? Seems odd to me.
Pat, I didn't think to check what the clearance was after it gets out of whack, but it's considerable, as I can move the rocker by hand and know there's too much clearance. As for warm to cold, it seems to vary by .002 - .003 across the board (checked that this morning after I adjusted warm last night).
Rick, the
oil holes are down, c4aeg heads, not sure on the head gaskets.