He didn't by any chance buy a hydraulic cam package from Clifford did he? If he has hydraulic lifters with adjustable rockers and pushrods the lifters will never get oil.

If he degreed the cam when he installed it it is very easy to use the #1 exhaust instead of the #1 intake too.

A Slant cam has to be pretty far off to lose enough compression that it won't at least fire.