Out of ideas

[bertsmobile1]

Get another head gasket and pull the head.
Look for damage to the top of the piston from it hitting the valves.
lap the head and the block flat, they tend to go hollow on the thin wall between the cylinder & the pushrod tube,
Rotate the engine and check the valve timing.
Those engines will run 1 tooth out either way, for a while.
Pushrods do not bend for no reason.
They bend because the valve does not move.
If it was sitting on the edge of the valve follower ( we have all done it ) then the valve spring will coil bind and that will bend the pushrod.

 

[hrdman2luv]

Two things happened, almost at the same time. Problem solved. (I hope)

The problem was the bent/almost broken push rod. After replacing that, I cranked it, and in about 5 to 10 seconds, the flywheel key broke. Since I had already checked the flywheel key before I found the bent pushrod, I didn't bother checking it until checking almost everything else first.


After fixing those two things, I let it idle for about 20 minutes. reving it up and down periodically, everything seems to be running great.

Thanks for all your advice.