RPM Airgap

As
That's the thing. In the pictures he provided it "appears" there is around a 1/16th of an inch difference. Pushrods of an incorrect length can cause either a lack of preload on the lifter (noisy valve train) or the opposite and bottom out the lifter in its bore. It appears you may have a make it run get it down the road rebuild. Not a huge deal if that is what you expected.

Just for S&G can you post a pictures of the top several of the valve tips. I'd like to see the wear pattern.

It was hard to hold them and get school picture by myself because the tape measure has the wobbly end. But I have been running this engine for two years and I can assure you the engine makes no noise and runs fine at all speeds and rpms.