Well, I thought I would post an update since it's been a while. I was happy to post 2 days ago that I had a "shortblock". Because I finished meticulously installing all 8 pistons and rods. It takes me a while to do all the checking and lubing, torqueing of the rod bolts etc.

But I ran into a problem. Ryan never caught it, and I do not expect him to, and I did not catch it. Both of us mocked up before final assembly and checked deck height at ZERO right where we wanted.

BUT, after final assembly the rings are all on and rod bolts tightened to final torque etc. and when I was checking the deck height I was getting really goofy readings. They were literally all over the place?? So after refining my measuring and writing the findings on the top of the pistons a PATTERN evolved and became apparent. Every piston on the odd side was +.007 at the front (towards the front of the block right above the wrist pin CL) and -.007 at the back. On the other side of the motor every piston was the exact opposite. So after a teardown and more measuring I have discovered that these high dollar rods were machined with the wrist pin bore crooked. A reality I had to face and so the rods all have to come out and be sent back. A huge amount of tedious work and no telling how long to get them back. A HUGE pain and loss of my time.

No amount of stressing or crying will fix this. I considered running it like that but in the end I know it is not right. Only hard work and time will fix it. As well as a little more money for shipping, misc etc.