On a Chevy maybe but Mercedes has been supplying and using off set keys with pretty big offsets available since the early 50's. I used them a lot on 300SL's and their use is routine on the V8's. A single cam has far less sensitivity to cam timing because the events always happen at the correct time relative to each other. A multi cam motor has a higher sensitivity to it and a good breathing, OBDII, heavily smog laden motor is more sensitive still.
I know this is an ancient thread but lots of lifter discussion so thought I would just respond here. I and others suspected the "solid" lifters or non squishy lifters were just hydraulically locked with oil (maybe depending on where they were parked on the cam before disassembly). My lifters have been out for months. Some solid, some squishy. I thought, well these are sitting here at room temperature, what about putting a little temp in them (and of course the oil inside) After just 10-20 seconds of mildly heating one of the -solid- lifters with a heat gun, oil started dripping out of it. Once cooled down it was squishy and had the same movement as the rest of the lifters that weren't locked hydraulically. Tried it on a couple more, same results. So IMO, no real problem here unless the piston is stuck in the compressed position and not extended as they will just normalize with the engine running and some temperature.
