What is the rest of the engine? Heads, pistons, etc. 36° is a ton of timing for a long stroke big block. Ping can be an issue if too small a cam is used, and once the detonation starts, parts start to change shape. It destroys the rings and the ring lands in addition to blocks and bearings. Are there any pictures of the bores during assembly? It's not hard to see if it's too rough. Too rough means oil contamination in addition to larger ring gaps after they seat... lots of posibilities. Also, no reason to not run a pcv. which might have helped a little anyway.
Well, art is art, isn't it? Still, on the other hand, water is water! And east is east and west is west and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does. Now, uh... Now you tell me what you know.
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