Well, looks like I may have found the problem. While pulling the motor last night I got a face full of gas out of all the rear cylinders when I was taking out the flex plate bolts. Good thing I put out the cigarette!. Pulled the head and found more gas on each of the rear cylinders. I dont' think i noticed before as i turned the motor over before pulling the heads. I had a hard cranking problem that I attributed to a dying battery, but now i am sure it was hydraulicing during cranking. Turns out one of the rear jets fell out of the extention and might have stuck the float, although fuel never came out of the vent. I never took off the float bowl since i don't know when. BTW, end clearance is 0.002 and the side clearance is 0.025 and less. Deck clearance was 0.040 is 0.060 now (different gaskets)

Jim, the bearings I used where CB743HN's. I was going to use the oversized ones this time to get a bit more clearance on the rods.

I really learned a lot on this deal. I even built a small oil pump dyno last winter to check pressure vs flow with various restrictions, measured oil flow with crank at various positions, etc. None of it helped. Should've checked the jets.

Thx for all the replies. I'll post more when I get it back together.

tony