<VV> CAM? engine WOES venting

[N2VZD at aol.com]

just a short story about my lost summer. (missing a lot of details!)
engine for my rampy was assembled last winter with the greatest of care and 
 components , hoping for a very good performing , long lasting motor to 
travel  anywhere with...(dreaming again?).
things went well on the bench , everything seemed to run good and adjust  
properly. i had cam lube on the cam , lucas breakin additive in the oil , 
yada  yada etc. i have put many motors together over the years , but never 
bothered  with a new cam before.  this time i went with the highly recommended 
OT10  cam. anyhow as time progressed , the valve train always seemed noisy 
like an  early fuel injected vette with solid lifters. i adjusted the valves a 
few times  , but they were squirrley , like about 1/4 turn or less between 
noisey and skip  (too loose to too tight). they all seemed about the same. 
sooo i put another set  of another brand lifters on one side only. this did 
not change anything. all  pushrods and rockers were checked and / or changed.
finally i gave up and tore this new motor down after less than 500 miles  
yesterday. 
my shop is now full of engines in pieces (wow the pictures!) , the coupe  
tossed a valve seat because it overheated (sender terminal was broken , so no 
 real indication in time ) apparently because the wrong shroud piece was  
installed on the right rear (hidden by the A/C bracket , leaving a 1 inch gap 
 for air escape around cylinder number 1 , which lost the valve seat 
closest to  the hot area.not bad for an engine that we thought was bad @2500 miles 
ago when  i bought it!
so now i want to prove the cam in my truck was bad when installed , i  
really dont think i did anything incorrect. playing with harbor freight digital  
calipers , i find interesting dimensions comparing the 9889 cam to this one 
,  plus a couple of lobes look porous (spots on the high part of the lobe ).
any of you expert engine guys have any similar past situations?
i had very strong magnets on the oil pickups in the motors as usual, that  
came up with nothing but normal small amount of break in mud.
next year WILL be different!
regards , very tired tim colson
HAPPY TURKEY DAY