I am PUMPED! The first piston went in no problem.
Bob, thanks for letting me know that the cylinders need to be finished better. You saved me from near disaster! As it turns out I had them honed to about 220 grit, so I went back and finished the cylinder to about 600 grit. And I cleaned up some more rust as per your instructions.
The ring side clearance meets specs, it measured about .004 or .005. The minimum end gap is beat by a long shot, it was about .030 instead of .015. There was about .010 between the piston and the cylinder at the top, and closer to .005 at the bottom of travel.
Thanks everyone for your kind assistance.
