Just to be a bit of a wise guy, but meant to be helpful in the end...there is no "us" it's all you because the only thing checked correctly in an engine will be done by you, or paid for by you. Talking on the phone with Dove or Summit won't be adequate, and is IMHO a dangerous waste of time because you could have already measured the springs. Figure out if your buddy can do it, or drop the engine off somewhere, you need to measure spring height and pressure and check for valve clearance.
The alternative? Either you get lucky, or you smack a valve into the piston, or you eat a cam and send metal through the engine, or you stack a spring and break something that causes many things to break. This is a no-kidding warning and what we all do
How to do it
- Pull a valve spring and any shims, then put the keeper/retainer back on, no spring. Measure the available space
- Subtract the shim if there is one, from the number you measured. That is installed height
- Then subtract the lift of your cam at the valve from that number then add back in the lash (but I usually go .010 less lash to give me room for tuning), that is open height.
- Bring the spring to the machine shop and have them check pressure at both numbers
There are a couple reasons why it is critical
- Your new cam is .065 more lift, let's say the springs were what they said. That would add 22 lbs and you'd be in the 300 open range. Good enough if you are careful with break in. However, what if he shimmed them more and they were tighter, or what if they weren't what he said they were? We already see he used shell lifters instead off off the shelf dumbells. The only way to be sure is measure
- The second reason is, if he went with a spring unable to take .605 lift, which is common, the coils stack and can break a valve head or eat a cam instantly, likely the latter.
Once you determine your spring pressures, then you can mock the head up with a checking spring and check both intake and exhaust valve clearance. Nothing wrong with the pistons he chose, but they aren't high performance and have both a shallow and small diameter valve relief. I generally check in 5 degree increments from 20 BTDC to 5 after on the intake side, and use clay for radial clearance. If you don't you are counting on luck.
After all that, you need to decide if you are going to get a second set of shell lifters, take a chance the ones you have with so little time on them (dangerous but has been done) or buy new dumbbell lifters and pushrods, but if you buy new push rods, you need to do that after you get everything together and measure length with a push a pushrod checker to make sure the adjusters are in the right place
I may sound blunt, but you are choosing a path that takes time, money, measuring and thinking, not much asking and discussing. Certainly do not trust Summit or second hand info from Dove when it is so easy to measure these things. A sat morning or two at a machine shop and it'd be done, except for waiting for pushrods