I took the advice of a few members and ordered up a bunch of retainers and locks to see how a few of the more popular brands stacked up on the height mic. First I'll introduce the contestants:

I emailed Hughes (they CNC's my MW Victors to an advertised 370@.700) and Dave told me to pick out a smaller cam. Unfortunately it is a little late for that. Stupid me to consider that a head advertised to flow well at .700-.750 lift would be able to utilize a compatible valve spring without retainer clearance issues and a scrub pattern wider than a '70 New Yorker. Anyway, more contestants:

There are a few items that will be listed but not pictured. If you are curious and don't see that particular retainer in the pic just ask and I'll get one.

The often loved and even more often scorn lash cap and accompanying lock. Also note how the non-lash cap TI retainer is super light weight due to the recess near the top of the locks.

All of this stuff is 11/32" super 7 and 10 degree fyi.

those Tool Steel retainers really help gain clearence. swapped out my titiainium for them. so far i'm impressed.

I converted the .xls file to a PDF so it could be attached. If you want the excel file hit me up.

I also found an interesting item of interest on my Hughes 1.7 ratio rockers. It seems that the offset intake rocker has a much shallower roller wheel compared to the non-offset exhaust rocker. This effectively KILLS rocker to retainer clearance.

Now to my question...why?

This is Tensilmax light weight retainer with .030 shims under the rocker shaft (see pic). This is the only setup I found that will clear the intake rocker and still let you use a .750 (gross) lift cam. My favorite combo that was not only light weigh but also put me right around a 2.00" or better installed height was the Manley light weight super 7 TI retainer. Unfortunately as rebel pointed out above it has rocker clearance issues to the tune of about .050 on the exhaust and .070 on the intake without any rocker shaft shims.

And here we are down at .750 net lift running off the edge of the map. I'm working with B3RE to correct this.

Have you checked out spring cups for thinner ones? Sounds like you are close to having plenty of clearance. How much lift is on your cam?

Sorry you are having problems. That's odd that the rollers are different height. Like many Victor guys it seems, I have a love/hate relationship with mine. You may have read my combo before and I run a smaller cam but, if helps at all, here's my valvetrain combo:
solid roller .421 lobe lift w/1.6 HS rockers = .674 lift.
Trick Flow springs TFS-16943-16(which are actually PAC-1243)installed at 1.900,
Comp tool steel retainers 1732-16
Comp 4785-16 locators
611-16 locks
621-16 lash caps,
Smith Bros .375x.083 pushrods
Harland Sharp S70016EVK rockers.
No spring/retainer clearance issues even without lash caps. I decided to run the caps only because the sharp rockers sweep the roller from the center toward the outer tips of the valves at full lift and wanted more contact. I'm sure it's not the ideal setup but seems to be working OK. Has been to 7400 RPM a couple times but keep it below 7k now.

With the CNC porting there is not much room for cutting the spring pocket. They are also all over the place. I am going to figure this out so the next guy doesn't get in the jam that some of us have with these heads. I figure by the time I get the rocker arm geometry figured out the valve covers, headers and push rods won't fit.

This weekend I am going to cut up an old set of valves, drill and tap the head portion and weld a 1/4"x20 tpi bolt to the stem to make some adjustable length mockup valves for my Victor heads, so I could mockup the rocker arm height for the max wedge rocker arm blocks. I just need to check if my old valves (from my B1 B/S heads) are 11/32" or 3/8"?

Be careful using the rocker arm shims. I'm not sure if that is why I split the center rocker stand on my old set of victor heads.
I will say this new set looks like a better casting quality than the old set.

Not trying to troll you here but I don't think you would have had the clearance issue if you were running Harland Sharp rockers. They don't have a gentle radius like the Hughes pieces. They cost literally 2X + as much though

Wouldn't take a free pair of Victors. I can't believe in this day and age that a major company could not only design but build a part that is so screwed up. Guess they never heard of CAD
Doug