No clearance on # 4 valves

[77westynewmex]

1977 Westy. 2.0 L (manual valves..Not hydraulic )

I just finished a tune up. plugs, rotor etc. Switched to Pertronics also. Checked and made necessary valve adjustments, timing etc. Everything seems fine. Timing checked at 3400 rpm. Everything good......
Took a trip into town (50 mi round trip.) about 25 miles later I lose some significant power. I get home and start doing checks.
Engine starts up perfectly cold or hot. I pull one plug wire at a time and idle slows on all except # 3. I switched #3 and 4 plugs with same results. then I switch # 3 and 4 injectors, same results...still no change when #3 wire pulled. (got spark to plug too)
Now I check # 3 valve adjustment. It was alittle tight on both (about 1 to 1.5 thousandths. Now here's the problem: when I check clearance on # 4 I can't even get a feeler gauge in. I even removed the adjusting screw. The only time I can get a gauge in is when any of the other 3 cylinders are on TDC.
Just to confirm. I started at #1 cyl with rotor pointing to mark on distributor and notch on wheel lined up with line above..... and rotated the wheel 180 for # 2 (rotor turns 90) another 180 for # 3 and another 180 for # 4. What has happened to # 4? Clearance was fine just 50 miles ago......
Any help would be greatly appriciated.......

[Wildthings]

If you are adjusting in the valves in the 1-2-3-4 order you need to be turning the crank 180* counterclockwise when moving from one cylinder to the next. The rotor always has to be pointing to the plug wire for the cylinder you are adjusting the valves on.

[busdaddy]

Excellent post regardless of the situation, thanks for including all the pertinant information.

As WT's says is that notch on the distributor lined up with the wire that actually goes to #1 cylinder? My next step would be remove the rockers and put a straightedge across the valve tips to see if something's growing.
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[77westynewmex]

WT's right.... opps.. I went clockwise. I'll redo #4 later today hopefully.... I'm still wondering whats up with #3 though... Seems like the three or four times I've checked clearances I'm always having to readjust #3 a thou or so. (I do recheck the clearance after tightening the jam nut......... Correct me if I'm wrong but a thou or so shouldn't cause a significant power lose should it? And if not I'm thinking bad rings or piston or valves right?


PS
Thanks for the comment Busdaddy.... I've noticed a lot of requests for additional info on lots of posts, so I tried to put all pertinent info into the post.

[SGKent]

.001 tight each time isn't enough to effect it running but it indicates the seat is sinking into the head or the valve stretching. If this happened over 7,000 - 10,000 miles it probably isn't going to bite you in the butt for a long time. But if that happens every 500 - 1,000 miles on an engine with some miles it means start saving for new heads or shipping them to Adrian. If the engine was just rebuilt it could be nothing more than the cylinders settling into the heads which changes the geometry a little. I would not be driving it above 60 - 65 mph until you get more numbers from it. Doing like BusDaddy said and measuring the valve tips for evenness is a good thing.
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[77westynewmex]

I rechecked all the valves today and took it for a test drive. It seems like its running a tiny bit better than the other day when I REALLY lost power. I still don't get any rpm drop when I pull the wire on #3. I'm gonna do a compression check next. One thing I noticed is that the intake pipe for #3 is hot. I can't touch it.... the others I can hold on too. I'm new to engines but have a lot of experience with huge refinery recip. compressors and when a suction valves goes out you can't put your hand on it. Its not carrying the heat of compression away. Sooooo....I'm thinkin its time to look inside... Are there any other tests I can do before I pull the engine to remove the head? As I mentioned before I checked the injectors, plugs, wires etc.....

[1967250s]

Sounds like valves are still misadjusted on #3, too. Do them all again in the correct order?
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[SGKent]