many builder class pistons are designed to go in, in either orientation ,and have both the valve notches and piston pin offset that are identical but most performance pistons have a dot or an F stamped on the crown indicating the side facing the front of the engine, naturally the rod big end bevels face the crank counter weights on each pair and the non-beveled big end faces the matched rod
http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/hrdp ... ting_rods/

cleaning threads before assembly is always a good idea

check manufactures tech guide info
http://arp-bolts.mobi/p/tech.php?page=3
http://arp-bolts.mobi/p/tech.php?page=2
http://arp-bolts.com/

it should be rather obvious that youll need to know the exact distance the piston deck sits at TDC ,above or below the block deck surface and the valve notch recess or pop-up dome volume of the piston to do accurate quench or compression calculations
http://www.harborfreight.com/1-inch-tra ... r-623.html

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/arp-1 ... /overview/ $248
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/arp-1 ... /overview/ $186
yes you can find non-name brand rod bolt stretch gauges from about $50-$80





ARP rod bolts are set up to use a stretch gauge with both ends of the bolt pre-machined for the gauge the bolt packaging from ARP,comes with the correct length the bolts are supposed to reach under the correct pre-load tension, in the instructions OR its available on their web site

most guys are familiar with use of a torque wrench to tighten rod bolts to the correct preload, but while this gets you very close its not as precise as a rod bolt stretch gauge,


viewtopic.php?f=50&t=11029&p=48839#p48839
having consistent clamp loads are mandatory for proper assembly


if you wonder why I suggest using SCAT (H) beam style cap screw connecting rods vs stock or most (I) beam designs this picture should show the increased cam to connecting rod clearance
one factor to keep in mind is that rods typically have a side that rides against its matched companion and a side thats BEVELED for clearance on the crank journals radias EXAMPLE



notice the top rods non-beveled side that faces the matching rod is up, but on the lower rod the the beveled side that faces the crank counter weight is up on the lower rod


FOR YOUR OWN GOOD< READ THE SUB LINKED INFO
http://www.kb-silvolite.com/assets/kb_installation.pdf
viewtopic.php?f=53&t=2795&p=8966#p8966
viewtopic.php?f=53&t=5064&p=14370#p14370
viewtopic.php?f=69&t=3814&start=240
http://www.connectingrods.net/connectin ... tretch.php
viewtopic.php?f=53&t=3759
viewtopic.php?f=50&t=11029&p=48839#p48839
http://www.enginebuildermag.com/Item/38 ... rings.aspx
viewtopic.php?f=53&t=852
viewtopic.php?f=53&t=2795
https://www.uempistons.com/installation ... lation.pdf
viewtopic.php?f=53&t=3540




when in doubt call the PISTON manufacturer and ASK!
viewtopic.php?f=53&t=3897&p=26602#p26602
viewtopic.php?f=53&t=509&p=28226&hilit=hone+plate#p28226
viewtopic.php?f=53&t=10213
http://www.circletrack.com/enginetech/c ... ce_basics/
viewtopic.php?f=53&t=852&p=1812&hilit=resistance+rotation#p1812
viewtopic.php?f=53&t=2726&hilit=plastigauge
viewtopic.php?f=52&t=5078
http://www.stockcarracing.com/techartic ... index.html
http://www.circletrack.com/howto/1815_c ... to_04.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2YrL3k__dA
http://arrc.epnet.com/autoapp/9102/9102 ... SEMBL1.htm
http://www.corvette-restoration.com/res ... lation.htm
http://www.popularhotrodding.com/engine ... index.html
viewtopic.php?f=50&t=8745&p=30913#p30913
viewtopic.php?f=53&t=3540



http://www.pawengineparts.com/shoppingc ... ?catid=206

naturally youll measure the bearing journals
one factor to keep in mind is that rods typically have a side that rides against its matched companion and a side thats BEVELED for clearance on the crank journals radias EXAMPLE


notice the top rods non-beveled side that faces the matching rod is up, but on the lower rod the the beveled side that faces the crank counter weight is up on the lower rod
rod-grinding
on some stroker applications SOME rods need to have the bolts ground for cam lobe clearance





bearings AND connecting rods have an inner facing side and outer side the inner side facing the matching rod has far less edge clearance because they don,t need the radias that is required for the edge of the crank journals


notice the top rods non-beveled side that faces the matching rod is up, but on the lower rod the the beveled side that faces the crank counter weight is up on the lower rod
notice how one side of the bearing holding section has a radias (left)(GOES TOWARD CRANK COUNTER WEIGHT) but the opposite sides flush (right) (FACES MATCHED ROD)
ok lets look at a few things, first , if you look closely at your connecting rods you'll see that one side has considerably more bevel ground on the inner edge of the connecting rod around the bearing than the other side does, to side with that bevel ground on it is to provide clearance for the radius ground onto the crankshaft where the crank throw meets the counterweights like you mentioned, that side of course goes out away from the other rod, to side with far less pronounced bevel is the side where the two connecting rods meet, and ride against each other during normal engine operation normal clearance there is in the area of six to 15 thousands of an inch. When the two connecting rods are correctly torque in place and a feeler gauge is fitted between them to check the maximum clearance.
Now a small block Chevrolet the valve placement or valve layout is in this order on a normal head, E I I E E I I E , the letter (E) of course representing exhaust and the letter (I) of course representing intake your Pistons will have to be inserted into the cylinders matching that layout, this will mean there will be two left and two right Pistons on each cylinder bank, if there is a dome on the Pistons it will go towards the outside of the block, when the machine shop installed the Pistons on the connecting rods, they should have been set up with four of the Pistons set up with the exhaust valve notch on the Pistons facing towards the bevel on the connecting rods and four of the Pistons set out live the intake valve side of the Pistons facing that bevel, lets look at the first two cylinders, cylinder number one is the front left forward facing forward look at the diagram per cylinder layout any
on that Piston both the bevel for the Crank Journal that provides bearing clearance and the exhaust valve notch would be towards the front of the engine, but on the next cylinder number two, on the opposite side of the engine. That Piston would have the bevel on the connecting rod facing the rear of the engine, but the exhaust valve notch would be facing the front of the engine, now let's look at cylinders three and four, cylinder number three, would have the bevel on the rod of course facing forward but the exhaust valve notch facing the rear of the engine, on cylinder number four you would have the bevel on the connecting rod facing towards the rear of the engine, and the exhaust valve notch facing towards the rear of the engine, now let's look at cylinders 5 and 6 cylinder number five, bevel forward exhaust forward, cylinder number six exhaust forward but bevel towards the rear for cylinders number 7 & 8 on cylinder number seven, exhaust out notch towards the rear, bearing bevel towards the front of the engine on cylinder number eight bearing bevel towards the rear of the engine and exhaust out towards the rear of the engine
keep in mind that some non- standard head / port layouts can potentially change the piston notch layout
you¢ll also need to make sure youe piston ring end gap is correct, that the piston rings have the correct side facing upwards that the bearings are installed with the correct clearance, and coated with assembly lubricant, that the piston to cylinder block deck clearance is correct ,that your quench distances are correct, and that after you degree in the cam that the piston to valve Clearance is correct. Youll also need to be careful that you don,t hit the connecting rod or rod bolts to the crank journals potentially causing any damage during the installation, and its normal to oil the rings and piston with a lite machine oil during the installation.
Ive personally found that the piston ring compressors that work best are this type,
this type is far easier to line up to the block surface at a slight angle that allows the rings to partly pop out from under its lower edge just as the rings leave the lower edge of the compressor and enter the cylinders bore, now Im not saying you can,t do it, just that its far easier to do it correctly with this type of ring compressor.IVE dunked my piston/ring assembly's in a can of MARVEL MYSTERY OIL just before installation with a ring compressor and have never seen the slightest indication of problems either on ring sealing getting the rings broken in, or on tearing the engines down later for inspections
http://www.tpub.com/content/constructio ... 24_423.htm

[b]always protect the connecting rod journals from getting scratched during the rod assembly process, a 18" long section of 3/8" or 7/16" inside diam. rubber fuel line can be pushed over rod bolts , after being looped 180 degrees around the rod journal on the crank, if the rod bolts extend down from the rod or a 18" section of 7/16" fuel line with a u shaped section of 5/16" thread rod that's 24" long, bent in the center over a 2.5" section of pipe so the ends remain parallel and even in length can be used as a handy tool so that 3" of the thread rod extends from each end, you then cover all but the last 1" on each end with plastic electrical tape and place the ends thru the rod bolt holes, and thread on a nylon washer and a nut finger tight, can be used as a tool to draw into place a rod on the rod journal if you use cap-screw rod designs




basic rod bearing assembly
1. Clean the bearing surface of all the connecting rods and connecting rod caps and closely inspect them, in an ideal world they have both the upper and lower should be engraved or stamped so, they can,t get mixed.
2. Clean upper connecting rod bearing and lubricate the bearing face with clean engine oil and moly assembly lube.
3. Clean lower connecting rod bearing and lubricate the bearing face with clean engine oil and moly assembly lube..
NOTE: Align the tabs on the connecting rod bearings with the tab grooves in the connecting rod.
4. Install upper connecting rod bearing in connecting rod, so the bevel on the bearing matches the bevel on the rod and tabs align.
5. Pull the connecting rod and piston assembly into position against the crankshaft. using both a ring compressor, and a rod guide after verifying the ring gap and ring side clearance, ring indexing and the rings are installed with the proper side facing upwards
6. Install lower connecting rod bearing in connecting rod cap.
7. Install bearing cap in position on connecting rod. Ensure that the identification numbers you previously are stamped on the same side, of the rod and rod caps.
8. If you have Type A connecting rods, install two bolts and two nuts. If you have Type B connecting rods, install two bolts. The torque is very important. verify the correct torque, in this section of the site,and with the connecting rod manufacturer
9. Repeat Steps 1 through 8 for the remaining connecting rod bearings.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oG9xF5EjEz0