Got to work on the engine again last night and made some real progress.

I started by checking my valve to piston clearance.  Everyone recommends using modeling clay but I didn't have any so I used pink Play-Doh instead.

I think it looks nice.  My daughter really liked it.

Before installing the head I put some motor oil on the Play-Doh to keep it from sticking to the valves.  Then I put the head on and installed the lifters, pushrods and rockers for the #1 cylinder (it still had the checking springs on it so I didn't have to worry about getting a bad reading due to the hydro lifters getting compressed).  Then I turned the engine over a couple of times and pulled the head back off.  I carefully peeled the clay off the cylinder and then cut it in several places (the clay) to check both the distance from the valve face to the piston face and the distance from the valve edges to the nearest ridge on the valve relief.

The distance from the edge of the valve to the edge of the valve relief was within spec (something like .080 to .100".  The distance from the valve face to the piston face was pretty big.  I could probably easily go with a higher ratio rocker arm and still be clear if I wanted some more flow.  I'm using 1.6 ratio rocker arms so 1.7 shouldn't be any big deal but I might need a different set of springs with the cam I'm using.

I put the 'real' springs back on the head and installed them both of them on the block torquing them  down.

I later realized I'd have to take one of them back off to reestablish TDC since I accidentally loosened the crankshaft bolt holding the timing wheel in place.  Oh well.  I'll wait until I have a timing mark installed.

I soaked all of my lifters and pushrods in oil.  I was afraid that I had either the wrong camshaft (a 351 that was built for flat tappet lifters and than machined for rollers requires a cam with a smaller base circle - I think) or the wrong lifters (to tall) or something else.  Actually, I didn't know about lifter retainers but I suspected I was missing something.  I couldn't figure out what was going to keep the lifters from rotating on the camshaft.  They have a wheel that rolls on the cam lobes but there was nothing to keep them from turning sideways and sliding on the lobes instead.  I did some investigation a discovered a retainer kit and then looked for one that would be compatible with my lifters.  I bought the lifters in a kit with my cam and timing set.  The kit was listed as being compatible with a 351W but when I looked up the lifters themselves they were only shown as compatible with a 302.  Well, I lucked out.  Everything went together perfectly.

Going from no heads to heads with sweet looking blue anodized rockers in one short evening was awesome.  It's too bad I can't leave the valve covers off.  The rockers go really well with the blocks blue paint job.  I was so excited with my results  that I decide to see what the engine looked like with the valve covers and intake on.  Check it out!