Pushrod cup ends turning blue

Diameter is one thing - radius of the ball end (and radius of the cup too)is another. If you custom ordered the pushrods they might have extrapolated a little you might have a flow issue at the top or bottom. You should have a ton of oil up there and you don't have much for spring presure so I'm thinking it's starvation for some reason.

Ok
I preoiled the engine block, so the lifters should have had oil real soon on start-up. I'll look again at pushrod cup and ball diameters, lifter cup diameter, and rocker adjuster ball.