Wait till you see what I find....

bschubarg said
Pushrods where the proper length... 7.500....It was my stupidity of having the exhaust protrude beyond the head deck. Didn't think of that since the piston is .070 in the hole...Live and learn... BTW, the valves where Manley severe duty and surprisingly they survived. The factory pushrods seemed to have taken the brute of the compromise.

But in the aftermath, I learned that 'clay' can be an important component of clearances.... I believe I have some purple PlayDough laying around somewhere.....

Another set of 302 heads are installed that haven't been basterized… Take two...
Click to expand...

Never thought playdough would be of any use to anything in my adult life,thats until i started playing with cars,its a good way to check valveclearance.
I cant imagine those valves still being straight that would take a mirracle,check them real good,and as has been adviced double check your pushrodlengths,you can never check things to many times,its so easy to miss something that will seem obvious afterwards.