And I see this:



My concern is that pushrod that looks dry and slightly corroded. Any idea why oil wouldn't make it to that spot?

This job is a PItA, by the way.

 

You need to pull the pushrod and see if it's clogged. Oil shoots through the lifter, through the pushrod, to the rocker and back down.

If it's clogged I could see it doing that. Just pull the rocker arm that pushrod belongs to, and the pushrod will come right out.

Run it along a flat surface to make sure it's not bent, and check to see that you can see through the oil hole in the middle. If not, just replace it. It's not expensive.

If you can see through it, suspect the lifter, though you'd have valvetrain noise with a failed lifter most times.

Josh

 

If the rocker is oiling (pull hte cover if you want to verify), then that came from something else other than lack of oil.

Looks to me like that pushrod is right underneath the edge of a coolant port in the the head. You are putting on intake gaskets to cure leaks, right? Any discoloration on the edge of that port above that pushrod where it might have been dripping?

Don't forget to run a tap in those intake bolt holes, especialy the blind ones - and wire brush the intake bolt threads. Use white sealer.