Ok, I'm good with what's been shared here and will proceed accordingly. I appreciate all the input, now time to conquer other challenges to get the motor ready. There is one hanging chad left though

- spring hysteresis. Years in the aerospace biz says I can't let this one go (yet). I think what has been eluded to here (without actually saying it), is that valve springs are made with enough margin in spring travel to handle the valve cycle - even after being compressed in a static state for a long period of time. The spring does not need to return to it's original uncompressed length, nor will it. Valve train design provides for a state of spring compression even when a valve is fully closed.
If that isn't the case (no compression margin in the spring), then my logic tells me a spring compressed for a long period of time will lose some of its' travel and that may result in a valve not fully closing.
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