Nissan Repair: 1990 nissan pulsar, hydraulic lifters, valve stems

Question
Hi there
I have just replaced the head gasket on a 1990 nissan pulsar 1.8 litre. I got the head skimmed but the problem is that all the tappet clearances are so tight that there is no compression on any cylinders and the car wont run. I kept all of the hydraulic lifters and collets in order but this just has me baffled. Any ideas would be much appreciated. Thanks

Answer
Gerry,

I will assume that when the head was surfaced they did a valve job?  If so, they surfaced the valves and seats and now they sit deeper in the head and the valve stems are longer.  Now, you have to either have the tops of the valves ground down or remove enough shims to get the clearances correct.  The machine shop that did the head job should have told you this.  The collets or cups are too thick to allow the valves to close.