@amphibient - If you have the camshafts in, you need to check the clearance on your buckets. While not exactly the same, I had put a 350 SBC together and had tightened my rockers down too far accidentally. When I turned it over, I was trying to find top dead center on #1 and couldn't feel any compression coming out of the spark plug hole. I realized I had them too tight, adjusted them, and I was golden. Don't know if this is your case, but seems like a good place to start.

that is definitely not the case because i slide the feeler gauge between the cam and the bucket and it goes through so it's not like that the cam is opening a valve when it's not supposed to

but thanks -- that was a good guess that i had indeed thought about

i know positively because, when i took the camshafts off, i was still getting the same leak -- which means the opening and closing of the valves was what broke the seal