Which way should my Pistons/rod point?

not familiar w/ small blocks, but u better have the right valve notches in the right correlation w/ the bigger in take valves.
So far the flat top ones I have seen have equally sized reliefs on both sides. The KB's are all that way as are Speed Pro's....flat tops, that is. The mfr's pix looks that way for this, but may be a stock photo. So, yes, you and TMM are right; a pix from the OP is for sure the best.