I should not have doubted Bob Donald's wisdom.  His zero-lash lore is true.
I have an '85 1.9l that had a bad lifter when I bought it about 2 years
ago.  The PO had tried to replace a rusted out pushrod return tube and
succeeded in damaging the lifter in the process.  I replaced this lifter,
and eventually all 8 lifters, when the valve adjustment troubles began.  I
read Boston Bob's write-up and concluded this was better for old, crapped
up lifters, not new ones like I had!  I split the difference--about 1 turn
from zero lash.  I put up with intermittent clacking and was resigned to
believing it just depended where the camshaft parked itself on shut down.
I got really tired of the noise.  The engine ran OK, seemed weaker than my
'86 GL, but I wrote it off to the extra weight of the camping gear, A/C and
the smaller 1.9l engine.  The mileage was good, getting 22.5 mpg on two
recent trips.
I decided to adjust the valves using the zero-lash technique and see what
happens.   I backed off each stem until the lifter was fully expanded, then
by hand, tightened a tiny bit--maybe an 1/8th of a turn.  I expected all
sorts off clacking. It started right up with no loud clacking.    The cold
start was much better than before--no stalling.  It idled a little faster
than before.  After looking for valve cover leaks,  I took it for a test
drive.
It was amazing.  It drove like my old '86  2.1l!  I would not have believed
it.  The only noise I have had so far, was after I moved it around in the
driveway and shut it down.  It clacked a little on the next trip for a few
minutes, but went back to normal on the trip home (round trip of two
miles?).
Next up: the shift linkage.

                                                   Jay '85 Westy (The
Hindenburg)