That would be a bandaide too.It looked like the push rods that you got were a little longer than the ones that you took out. Put them in and it will be fine. You aren't running that much of a cam so I wouldn't really worry about it. I will probably catch some flack for say this but you very likely could even get by in that application by using the longer one in place of the marginal ones. As long as you aren't bottoming out the lifter plunger you will be fine. If you were running a higher lift cam I would recommend having the valves reseated and the properly and get the installed valve spring height right but for normal run of the mill usage you will be fine. Adjustable rockers would also cost you another set of pushrods and with the situation that you have you would have the adjuster adjusted too deep with too many threads showing between the rocker and the push rod and the angle would be off. It is unbelievable to some how much the angle changes and how much the lift changes at the same time due to this.

Cool, thanks. You're right, this isn't a race engine by any means Mostly highway driving, with very occasional towing (twice a year, maybe).

I put a longer pushrod in one position that had 0 preload, and then measured ~.060" preload, so right on the edge of too long. Still have loud ticking on a couple others; I'll attack them another day.

I'll look at getting everything reseated this summer when I work on the bottom end.

Thanks!
-Dave