I still don't have the springs yet but I was still messing around with this. With the intake off and the cam card I can watch the lifters move up and down. I turned the crank to where it said max lift for each valve and did the following check. I have a zip tie around the valve stem. I measure the valve stem height with the valve closed. I added valve lift and additional clearances and lowered the valve stem that much. Did not touch the piston. In fact I pushed down the valve stem some more and still did not touch the piston. So I think I am good. Do you agree?
Remembering what Jerry said about being really close around TDC I did the following:
I left the valves open and turned the crank slowly towards TDC. The piston did bump the valve a little around 20 degrees before TDC. I measured this height. Looking at the cam card showed the pistons only being open around 0.150". I had about 0.300" additional clearance. So I think I am good. Do you agree?
This is all until I get the test springs then I will do it with modeling clay.
Thanks for you time and responses.