the saga continues:
Pulled head - whoa! same problem as old one - cookie monster's been eating my middle ex. valve. Get valve from old head - lap all valves - reinstall head. 180 in #3, 180 in #2, 0 in #1! arrrgh. car starts - very, very noisy lifter - chug about for a week - lifter goes quiet -start checking again - 150 in #1 but still runs same!!!! nearly new (2 - 3,000 kms) #1 plug damp, no sign of life - inspect plug lead, cap - nearly new - pull lead off while engine running - do the high tension shuffle - get better insulated pliers, try again - lead gets an inch from plug and it starts to fire!!! - engine runs on all three!!! replace plug with old one - runs better than ever - (burns oil like crazy)
now for some tweaking to get rid of the lag - like turbo lag or broken accelerator pump - then it's buzz, buzz, buzz. (in my dreams)