After putting my pushrods in the motor today, I noticed that i have very little clearance from pushrod to guideplate on bottom portion.

How much clearance do you normally need?

Also does anybody know if they are hardened all the way through?

And last question, what is every body using to grind them with? (dremel?)

 

When I installed mine with the 1.7's they almost if not touched. This was at the bottom of the 'U'. I used a die grinder with a 3" wheel to grind the notch deeper, 1/16" to 1/8". Be careful not to touch the sides.