[Cliff R]

Guys, I already provided DIRECT experience with an engine assembled with offset factory type pistons installed in the WRONG direction. 10,000 miles of grief, noise (piston slap) or "rocking" as they cross TDC, and it never sealed up well....it went on deaf ears

My engine was removed without knowing what the problem was, discovered the problem, corrected the problem and 90,000 more miles without any issues whatsoever including getting rid of the "odd" noise it made from the moment you started it up that you just couldn't nail down a cause for. It never went completely away, and got bad enough toward the end it forced pulling the engine to find out what it was.

Anytime you have something right in front of you, problems are discovered, it's within easy reach to correct them, it needs to be done. Anything less just doesn't cut it in this game. Even worse here connecting rod orientation isn't known. When I installed 8 pistons in the wrong direction ALL of my connecting rods were in the right orientation, flats running together and chamfers to the outside.

Here steps weren't even taken to know if the rods are in backwards, or not, and even worse 7 out of 8 pistons in backwards and one facing the right direction is likely to cause issues with harmonics as things wear on.

I must have missed the part about the pistons being .035" or WAY down in the holes at TDC. That NEVER works out well either when teamed up with a .050" thick head gasket. Pontiac engines using factory heads with flat chamber floors are more sensitive to that deal than others I've worked with over the years. No engine here ever goes together with more than .040" quench for any reason. I've worked on enough piss poor running Pontiac engines builds in my time to know better. One common denominator with every single running hot, overheating and pinging on pump gas Pontiac build I've been asked to assist with has had WAY too much quench in it, no exceptions........FWIW......