hey bryan i was trying to rationalize too but then i hit my head on the block and realized this is my engine and i don't want to have to pull the engine back out to fix a stupid mistake.
i kept playing with it and it seemed to get better but its still tight. i hope this means i have a tight seal. these rope seals are a POS.
well everything else is within specs so it on to the rest of the rebuild.
thanks for the responses
benzdoc