[Superman]

I agonized over this decision also. And Wayne knows I have a tremendous respect for him in many ways. But I'm going to suggest splitting. The closer you get to the center, the simpler engines get. When you open the case halves, all you've got in there is a crank, and intermediate shaft with oil pump at one end, and a fistful of bearings. The bearings will probably be showing copper. So, minutes after splitting you'll be feeling justified in the decision. Measure everything.

Are you rebushing the wrist pin bores? If you don't split the case, and you don't rebush the wrist pin bores, you very likely could end up with an engine noise that is not dangerous, but you won't like it and you'll wonder what the noise is.

I did not have to scrape sealant. Don't have the crank "worked." Just measure it. You can be in and out of there very quickly, IMHO. If you do this, you're going to feel like you built a 250k mile engine.