Years ago I had a Yamaha Special II SOHC 650cc parallel twin. It was given to me, "it doesn't run." I got it running, but a tremendous clatter. I pulled the valve cover to see that somehow a keeper was spit-out, the valve was hitting the piston crown. I replaced the keeper and the engine seemed to run OK. I sold it soon after, "runs, needs work." I owned three KZ1000's at the time, and really had no interest in it. It was a 1 owner bike. The buyer sent it to the U.K.
02GF74 said,
"...the follower will be up against the cam lobe = no clearance?"
The
'follower' is the valve stem acting on the cam lobe. OHV's have rocker arm followers on top of the pushrods and usually hydraulic followers acting on the cam, usually close to the crankshaft. Some engines have a 'high cam' design using very-short pushrods which aids in higher rpm's achieved, because the pushrods are shorter, lighter, and stiffer. OPEL used that design in the late 1960's (advertised as 'cam-in-head,' but definitely
not overhead cam!), and Moto Parilla used a high-cam design (but still an O.H.V.) for motorcycles in the 1950's and '60's.
Parillas, as they were often called, shortening the name, were often considered to be among the most elegant-appearing bikes of the post WWII era, though by the 1970's they were out of the motorcycle business. For four-strokes, they had decent performance too. A Moto Parilla is a rare sight in the USA.