Thanks for the help. That would have helped me if I was able to get to a computer earlier.
I removed the valve cover and noticed the plastic piece that holds the lifter( lash adjusted) in place was all the way down on the spring. I spoke to the engine guy at the machine shop I use and he said " Oh dont worry about it. The lifter has not discharged yet and it is normal for them to get stuck after a major job. Just run the engine and once it stays on drive the car the car for a while."
I decided to take a closer look and noticed the plastic piece was broken and removed it. Thats when I noticed the lash adjuster was not sitting on the valve stem like it should and had moved out of place and was pressed between the rocker and the valve stem so the valve never fully closed.
I removed the rocker arm assy for the exhaust side and took it to the machine shop. They balked at having to replace the entire rocker arm assy because the individual lash adjusters are not replaceable.
I spoke with their cylinder head guy and he removed the tip and inspected it. Installed a new plastic piece and viola! the lash adjuster was as good as new. Installed last night and the engine started up right away with no further issues.
So I just finished up a while ago with and oil change, exhaust pipe gasket replacement, front motor mount replacement and rear light assy replacement.
The car is now ready for my daughter to go out and screw up again.
Erndogy