Yes, I have a fixture that mounts to the carriage on my lathe and I bore the rods to a close fit for the insert bearing with a precision boring head in the spindle, then finish-size it with my Sunnen hone. I drill a hole in the bottom bearing to line up with the dipper cup hole in the rod cap. Since the main bearings are already insert types, using the shims allows the oil clearance to be adjusted to a minimum, and readjusted for wear if necessary. Most machine shops absolutely refuse to try to line bore a stovebolt engine since there are four different size bearing bores. I have a portable line bore machine that bolts to the oil pan rails which makes the job a lot easier- - - -set up four cutters and do the job with one pass, but old geezers like me who are willing to do that are getting harder to find every day. I can either convert the rods to fit the original style insert bearings or the Perkins bearing- - - -it's the same amount of machine work either way. Drop me a PM for more details if you want to- - - - -the moderators get their drawers in a wad when people try to do business on the open forums.
Edit- - - -another sneaky trick when rebuilding an early 235 is to replace the cast iron pistons with 54-62 235 aluminum pistons. They're a drop-in fit, and the lighter pistons don't hammer out the Babbit bearings as quickly. The engine also accelerates better with the reduced reciprocating weight. It's not even necessary to rebalance the crankshaft since an inline six is inherently balanced to begin with, regardless of the weight of the pistons.
Jerry
