After taking a few more measurements, I had to purchase a set of .010X (.009″) bearings, just like the rod bearings. Everything was too tight. To make sure, I got myself a new Torque Wrench, digital of course, with a much longer handle to help this old man with the main bearing cap torque and re-torque of the heads when the engine is in the car. I always have a hard time doing that job. Almost makes me want to skip that task.
I got all of the rings file fitted. All of the oil rings are on the pistons. I had never heard of a end gap for the two oil ring rails, but these J.E. Piston Rings gave a Minimum specification for those. Another reason why my car was smoking so much. The more I look at the engine that I took out, the more things I find wrong. Even if the last two passes were great, one of them was 8.63 @ 150 MPH (on 7 cylinders).
I think I have all my parts. The one thing that I may need is, the correct length push rods. Block and deck height are different, cam will be the same. We may have to change the thickness of the head gaskets too.
July 6, 2021