[Dr. Curve]

Samlee, I know you are going to but you did not mention it..........be sure to balance the pistons. Grind off casting markes internally and if a big difference is found you may need to take some off the bottom of the crown. Take care but get them exactly right.

Of course mirror polish the crown. Not only that, consider glass beading the piston skirts from the oil ring on down only..........not on the ring landings or landing edges. Also remember that IF for any reason you decide to remove material from the skirt edge.........DO NOT round it off in any way.......but rather make sure the out side edge (piston to cylinder edge) is knife like with no campher. Also consider wrist pins that have cut so as to have a interior taper that leaves only the thick part of the pin in the center area where the small end of the rod rests. Check around and find some chevy racing pins and cut these to fit. The outsider diameter (22mm??) is all you need to match up. Get strong thick ones and then cut them down internally so that both ends of the pin have tapered to barely 1mm or just enough to hold the clip. The inward taper goes to the thick center area and the whole pin will be lighter and stronger than the original. Think of a reverse Morris taper inside the pin. Balance these of course.

Consider adding a second oil hole in the small end of the rod but remember that the "cracked fit" metal is a trick to drill. Campher the oiling holes so that they really take in some oil mist. Do not polish the rods unless you really have a lots of time to mess with them. They are not surfaced hardened however and can be polished but get ready to spend some time. Big end balance is important however and remove casting marks off the bearing cap and grind its backside if need be. Do this on a balance beam type scale like one would weight powered chemicals with. Make sure that the rods are absolutly level with the balance deck so that the small end and the big end center lines are horizontal to gravity and to the balance deck as well. If I were you, and if you have the money, you might consider a set of Carillio Rods which are both stronger and lighter than stock. If you order a set you can specify that the pin end be made wider than stock.........which will insure even more pin support at higher RPMs. I would not shot peen the rods because the new metal will not respond to it like the old stuff did.

Polish your head chamber to a mirror surface as well and the valve faces should reflect your face in them. Make sure that the area around the plug hole has no sharp edges and chamfer around it a bit......especially if the plug threads end before the chamber surface is reached, usually leaving one of two head threads exposed. Chamfer so that a smooth transition occurs from the plug thread ending point into the head surface area.

You can internally bore (lighten) the rod cap bolts with a hole about 1/8 of an inch that extends almost all the way thru (like a very thick piece of pipe) if the bolts are of constant diameter all along the shank........but do not internally bore the bolts if they are the relieved taper type that have fat threads and head area......but taper along the middle shank area.

Have fun doing this or just go ahead and buy a R12S. Good luck and welcome aboard.