So, I just got this camaro a few weeks ago. I changed the valve covers which were tall ones and put shorter valve covers on. I heard a slight arching sound and thought it was a spark plug issue. I also pulled the shorter valve covers off, and discovered the rockers were hitting the breather element inside the shorter valve covers. Now my engine shakes and sounds like it might be skipping. Is this just a timing issue ? I hope that's all it is. The motor ran great until I changed the valve covers.

 

The tall valve covers were evidently on there for a reason, clearance. Do you have non-stock rocker arms? When the rocker arm whacked the breather, it could have tweaked the push rod.

 

I just did a visual inspection on the rods and springs. Everything looks ok. The plugs were pretty bad. I cleaned them and checked all the wires. I also checked the vacuum hoses. It's still running like its out of time.

 

By visual, did you pull the pushrod of the rocker that was hitting, and roll it on a good flat surface? I don't know how solid your other valve cover or breather was, so I can't say how hard the rocker arm was hitting it. You would know that by what you saw.
You said you heard an arcing noise. Did you run the engine in the dark with your head under the hood to see if there were any fireworks. You could have an arcing plug wire, or a shorting through the boot to the head.

 

O.K. I just used a heat gun on the car. I waited for the engine to get warm and checked the temp of each cylinder. The first plug on the drivers side which is the one in question, was reading at 150 degrees, the next 3 on the same side were reading 190-200 degrees. The passenger side were all reading around 220 except for the 3rd from the front, it was reading around 300 degrees. Does any of this info help ?

 

Were you removing the plug wires when replacing the valve covers? Check that #1 wire to start with. Pull it off the plug and slide the boot up the wire (you'll probably need to lube it). See if the clip end is still tight on the wire. Then check the plug wires at the distributor end. You may have yanked something out of place.

 

Problem solved ! The small little nub like piece that sits under the coil in the distributer cap was broke. Also, the header gasket on the drivers side had a leak.
She's running like a champ again.