Got the engine parts from Summit this morning. For some crazy reason they sent me 6 pistons from one warehouse and 2 from another. I brought them to the machinist and he didn't have a good feeling about them since they looked markedly different: an old version and a new version of the same part number. He weighed them and the weight difference was off the scale, literally.
I called Summit and they agreed that was not right - you never mix and match pistons from different sets, let alone different years of manufacture. All I can assume is that it must have been the computerized inventory system selecting the locations from which to ship. They issued a call tag for the 6+2 pistons and they are drop shipping me a new, matched set directly from Sealed Power.
On a positive note, they do have excellent customer service people, who realized the problem and took care of it immediately.