Wizard, glad to hear that you tested & found the issue.
Make sure that you get the correct length. Really should check the valve wipe pattern before replacing or it may happen again or the valve guides could wear pre-maturely on all of the valves. The wipe pattern across the tip of the valve stem should be centered & relatively narrow if using stock rockers & even more narrow if using roller rockers. Centered is the key.
To check wipe pattern, remove a rocker & clean the tip of the valve stem where the rocker tip sits. Then, color the top of the valve stem w/ a Sharpie pen. Replace rocker & start engine long enough to build pressure in the lifters, then shut it off & remove the rocker. Look to see where the color is removed on the valve stem. If it's centered, as described, the push rods are correct in length. If it's toward the intake side of the head, they're too long. Toward the headers side of the head & they're too short. If either case, get the next longer or shorter pushrod from Bob & use it to test or use an adjustable pushrod length checker. My opinion is that if the pushrods are bent, it's because they are too long, not too short. Just check 'em or you'll likely be doing this again or pulling heads to replace the eventual lifter failure.
Pushrods could have bent due to a missed shift by the previous owner, but, is more likely due to the wrong length.
