I did a compression test today and it revealed that there was no compression at all. On a ford fe 390 they do not have adjustable rocker arms....just a rod that is nearly the length of the head with rockers connected to it and four bolts holding it on. I ended up loosening the rocker arm assembly bolts a little bit because my push rods didn't turn freely at TDC.....sure enough the compression tester gauge shot up. Either my torque specs were wrong or the heads had been milled at one point in time....the only way to adjust the rocker arms on a 332-428 fe motor is to buy push rods that are either .060 shorter or longer. Problem solved. Damn fords.
Don't cuss the Ford, there is something wrong with your build. Do you have the oil baffles that go under the rocker shafts? Without those that will slightly lower the rockershafts changing the geometry. Do you have the correct pushrods? FEs have 3 different length pushrods available, make sure you have the right ones. Also there has to be something really wrong if the valves are hanging open as the hyd. lifters have from .160" to .180" of plunger travel and that should allow alot of "wiggle room" for the valve train. One last thing, check your spring heights as some heads have been 'valve jobbed' to death increasing the installed heights. I did a set of heads for a fellow that had spring shim stacks ranging from .190" to .245"...ya think the valves were sunk?:idea: