[blykins]

Do what you have to do to make the geometry right. The second picture definitely looks better.

Take a felt tip marker and color in the top of the valve stem. Roll the engine over several times and see what pattern you have.

Make sure that you have the valve lash set for the particular rocker arm that you're looking at. Set the intake valve when the exhaust valve is starting to open, set the exhaust valve when the intake valve is starting to close.

Also check the pushrod clearance through the head. Sometimes with higher lift cams, you can get the pushrod very close to one side of the hole. Make sure it's clearing on the underside as well, where the pushrod goes up through the bottom of the head in the lifter valley.