What say you are putting a solid cam motor together and the clearances state 28 E 26 I, You want to check piston to valve clearance, just to make sure that the valve wont hit the piston.

Using the plasticine impression and knife method:

Would you check this with no valve clearance as you wound the motor over,

or

Would you check it with the valve clearances mentioned above, remember, that on a SBC the rocker ratio is 1.5 to 1.