That's what I was afraid of.
The good news is that I'm living at Pappaw's house now, and there's an iron beam with a chain for engine pulling (since if I'm going this far into it, I may as well pull it and have everything inspected)

The bad news is that the car is at Mom and Dad's. I'll pull the over valve cover tomorrow and have a look I guess.

Not surprising, but still a bummer.

Don't be yanking it out until you know what the issue is. It's much easier to do running checks with it installed than on a stand.

^ that.

Also, sorry to learn of your loss too man.
Anthony

I meant if it does end up being a dead cam lobe, then it's getting pulled.

:biggthumpup:

Pulled the left valve cover. Everything over there looks fine.

OK, assuming it isn't a flat lobe, are the plug wires on correctly ? Many people get #5 and 7 crossed when all the wires are off at the same time. On that line of thought, are the plug wires all good ? Old, cracked wires can transfer to another and cause a misfire also.

Wires are new, the noise is from the passenger side. Plus, like I said, the last rocker on #8 (I'm not sure which side is intake or exhaust but I know it's the number 8 cylinder) doesn't move much while it's running, and when I checked the lifter with the rocker off, the pop was consistent with that lobe. I did check the firing order, it's correct. Unfortunately, that pretty well narrows it down. Good thing the garage at Pappaw's has a furnace because this sounds like a winter project!

Your intake rocker/valve will be by your intake port and your exhaust rocker/valve will be by your exhaust port. Hope this helps.:headbang:

Ah, right! It's the exhaust valve on #8 then!