I'm from the camp that says never use old stock springs for a performance application. The explorer cam was pretty low lift, if I'm not mistaken. Plus, the springs are old and worn, at best. A new set matched to the cam (with the rocker geometry factored in) is cheap insurance.
I ran a B303 with 1.7 rockers in my 88gt. Block and rotating assembly was stock, but I was using some heavily ported and modified factory '69 casting heads. I used new springs spec'd for this application and valve clearance was checked. While I normally wouldn't suggest this build, I literally had everything but the valve springs already lying around, so I put them to use. As luck would have it, that thing was an absolute terror, for a pile of spare parts. My buddy now owns it, but he over-revved doing a smoke show and broke a valve spring. It didn't hurt anything... didn't even drop the valve. I have the heads sitting on a shelf now. He went to a set of aluminum heads.
But 347HO is correct. There are a lot of factors to consider here. For example, is the engine stock? If it's been replaced, what pistons were used? Do they have valve reliefs? If I were a betting man, I would say he'll be fine. They've been tossing E cams and 1.7 rockers in 302's for years. The problem is that they've also been swapping rotating assemblies too lol!