I'll probably do it again and pay particular attention to the push rods. I'm reasonably confident that the valves were both closed, but I'll do my best to verify it this time. If the results are similar, I'll move on to head removal, even though that will be a large task.
Side note: I still have the derelict engine that came in the truck. It has the same 848 head as the current engine. I've considered swapping heads to see if it'll run. The reason that engine was no good was water got into it somehow and rusted the lifters. I don't remember anything wrong with the head, but the water had to come from somewhere.... Just a thought for 2am.
