Yes, the bottom end is OK. The rods are stock but polished beams and good bolts. Steel crank. One of the main reasons I wanted to do the bottom end first was the heavy TRW 6-pack pistons. Also, its going to take several hundred dollars to put the engine back together so I would just apply it to the cost of the new addition. I also figured that going from around 90 cc open chamber heads to 75 cc heads would increase compression. Add that to improved flow and to me its a win win situation. As you can tell, IM still undecided. You all make good points, any other opinions out there?? As you can tell, the poll has not been too one sided.