I put a Comp Cams 12-250-3 Hyd. cam in my 350 where a 12-242-2 was. I decided to check pushrod lengths by taking off the #1 exhaust roller rocker and marking the top of the valve with a sharpie. Put it on TDC and re-installed the rocker arm and turned the engine over with the key a couple of rotations. Checked the mark on the top of the valve and it was from the center of the valve stem to slightly towards the exhaust. Everything I have read says that means the pushrods are too long. I bought the Comp Cams pushrod length checker that goes from 6.8" to 7.8". I adjusted it to the same length as my stock pushrods and they showed to be slightly less than to 7.8".
Then I rotated it -.100"= 7.700. It put the mark in the center of the valve. Better, but -.150 seems to put the make from the center of the valve towards the intake. My confusion is there doesn't seem to be a large variety of SHORTER pushrods. There seems to be tons longer than the 7.8" stock length. What is making my setup need shorter pushrods? I don't know if the heads where milled before I got them. They are basically stock 882 1.94 heads. I had hardened seats, new valves, valve springs, and keepers installed, but no milling. Any ideas? Maybe I'm wrong about something. Any help would be great.