[blykins]

If you run them the first time, they need to be checked hot. If you're just verifying lash, get the engine hot, pop the valve covers, get a remote starter switch a feeler gauge and take 30 seconds to check them. They don't change every weekend as people think, and you're basically just checking to make sure nothing has slipped or broke.

I think people make too much of a deal of checking lash. I have to check lash/preload on every engine on the dyno, and I can run through it in about 2 minutes.