The first thing I would do is contact Blue Thunder and see what rocker and valve stem length they used when designing their head. Use that information in order to get the proper geometry, which is critical. I'm going through this with my Canfiels BB Chevy heads right now, and if I had talked to Canfield in the beginning it would have saved a lot of headaches. What some call stock length in valves, others call +.100, and so on. Manley even lists three different lengths of valves and calls them "stock" for BB Chev. :notam: Canfiels said to use a +.100 ex valve, but the dimension they give for that length is referred to as "stock" in Manley's book. Blur Thunder may have designed their head using a BB Chev rocker (for cheaper parts), which is definately different than a Ford rocker, so you need to find out. AFA pushrod lengths, you might be able to get them to tell you, but I'd just get the heads built correctly and then do a mock up and measure for your push rods. Valve springs, retainers and locks will all be determined by the cam chooice. Titanium retainers are IMOP a worthwhile investment. Anything you can do to lighten your valve train is a plus. Roller rockers are almost a must, and you'll generaly get what you pay for. Scorpions are very good, Crane, Comp, Isky, Sharp, Lunati...all make good alum. rockers. Like I said before, rartio and design will be dictated by Blue Thunder.
I don't know if there's a hyd. roller for the BB Ford, but I would imagine so. I wouldn't bother. You can get good enough valve train pieces to where you can run a solid all year and not have any troubles with adjustments. Llifters are much lighter and you'll get better performance. Get all the info you can about your heads AFA flow numbers and decide what rpm you're going to use your boat most. Choose your cam accordingly. Don't try and "out-cam" your buddies...most have way more cam than necesary anyway, and are hurting performance. Pick the right cam and show them the back side of your roost.
Oil pump...most BBFords will do fine with the srock pump, just check your clearances between the gears and the cover, like any oil pump. Too much and you're throwing away pump performance. You can use a high vol. if it makes you feel better, but not necessary, IMO, if bearing clearances are good. No less than .003 on the mains, and .0025 on the rods.
Ignition...the sky'ds the limit, but go with a goos electronic. I don't particularly like MSD electronics, but their distributors are OK. Crane and Accel both are making some good electronic ignitions.
I know all this sounds like a lot of work, and maybe a little overwhelming, but if you want your engine to perform to it's oprimum potential, then take the time to do it right. Find someone who can walk you through these steps, and ask questions. IN the end, you'll have a better running motor than 90% of the guys out there, it'll stay together longer, and you'll have more fun. :coffeycup