If the spokes are too long, the nipples may tighten against the end of the threaded section of spoke before the spoke has been properly tensioned.
If you screw a nipple onto an unfitted spoke until it cannot thread on any more, and then make a note of how much of the spoke is protruding past the head of the nipple, this will give you a rough idea as to when the spoke's thread bottoms out inside the nipple.
If during assembly, the amount of spoke protrusion is getting close to this amount, the spokes are likely to be too long.
However, if you are able to correctly true and tension the wheel with less spoke protrusion than you had with the unfitted spoke, then the spokes will probably be OK.
I strongly recommend fitting the spokes on the outside of the hub flanges so that all their heads are on the inside:
This ensures the spoke "elbows" are correctly supported against the flange, thereby reducing the likelihood of spoke failure due to fatigue, whilst also improving the lateral strength of the wheel and helping to use up a small amount of that surplus spoke length at the same time.
AlanP.S. I have updated the
PDF attachment in my previous post in order to correct the pitch circle diameter of the spoke holes.
I have shown it as approximately 300mm as the 305mm was definitely wrong.
One GM drawing showed it as 299mm, and I used a measured diameter of 297.6mm for the
flange modification on my original MkI Pie.