Tore the engine apart. There were 5 stripped allen head bolts on the lower block tray. (easy to see how this happens... no gasket... metal on metal... mega torque on short head allen bolts... I'll be checking around for deeper head replacement bolts).

Good news is the main shaft looks great... no scoring. I'm certain this engine has been overhauled before as the pistons were already marked 1-6.... and the shaft sat nice and tight.

I'll be replacing two pistons so far. #4 I already knew about, it had the impact damage issue. #6 caught me by surprise... about a 3 inch section is broken off on the ridge that separates the piston groves. Any idea how that happens? Good news is it didn't gouge the cylinder wall... seems that it 'miraculously' just floated between rings.

Next stop is the machine shop for their inspection and estimate. I might try two shops and go with the most competent. Not planning to do that until April.

So I'm on break... no sense spending money on any other work until I get the engine rebuilt and running.

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