Okay, got the motor out and on the stand. Got some ARLs in standard size (by mistake) and some chinese rods. Some of these for the main bolts
https://www.fastenal.com/web/products/details/1139627 and I'll be re-using my ARP head studs. They were in there tight as all hell, 125 ft/lb after a few heat cycles, I had to rattle on them with the IR231 for a couple seconds apiece to get them to come loose.
There's still crosshatch on the cylinder walls, no scratches or anything. I hear factory piston/wall clearances are 1 to 2 thousandths, guys with hot B-series motors run .009" or so clearance for the pistons to heat up and expand. These pistons are 3/4 the size, so .006" should be good, I'm gonna try for .005" clearance from honing the cylinders.
Chinese rods are getting the big ends honed out proper. Then I'll assemble it with the old bearings to measure my piston protrusion and figure out a head gasket from there. Had a 2 hole, but with new pistons and rods, who knows where it'll end up.
So I don't forget the numbers, I'll transcribe them from the pay stubs I have them written on.
ring end gaps
1 0.5mm
2 0.4mm
oil 0.3mm
rod bolts, 46 ft/lb
mains, 50 ft/lb
ETA: had about 1800 miles on the compound setup, still on a 2.5bar map, not much to say, the subaru turbo'd make 10 after adding a drum brake spring to the wastegate, and then the rest of the 21 or so would get done by the VNT15
ETA: 12/7/14
Lotsa metal came outta the head. Exhaust ports were TINY. Maybe to keep velocity up so soot couldn't build up in the head where it is cooled by the water jacket? Dunno, hogged them out to a little smaller than the gasket, at least 1/8" in every direction. Smoothed out the manifold a little too, but didn't remove very much at all.
Popped some new guides in and reamed them, gotta get together a setup to grind the seats, Mandrels and everything's dirt easy, there's a bin of nice new pink valve grinding stones at the surplus shop, and I can dress them to the proper angle on the lathe with sacrificial carbide tooling.
Honed the cylinders earlier today, did the first two good to .0001 taper, then on the last two got tired and said .0004 was good enough. Should have .004 or so piston-wall clearance. Little tighter than I was shooting for, but I'm not going too nuts with fueling, and they shouldn't get too hot with the oil passages in them...
So, tomorrow, new pistons and rods go in to figure out what head gasket to order, then back apart for some paint and new con-rod bearings when they get here.
ETA3: 12/28/15
Accidentally sunk a couple intakes far too deep, can't find ANY valve seats that'll work from the (read: any) catalog. Intake valves are commonly made outta 4140, I was going to use 4130 for the seat, but I had some 1045 laying about and it'll be nicer to the $90 cutter blades on the valve seat cutter. Made it a .008 press fit, tossed the head in the oven at 275 and the seat in the freezer, hammered them together with a 3lb drilling hammer. Really would have rather used something closer to 1lb, for the sharpness of blows rather than the "move metal and bend the head" that the 3lb hammer offers against the cam cap studs it was siting on.
Later on when I find a junk head to figure out a compression release brake on, I'll make some shrink fit steel inserts that go out to the edge of the fire ring portion of the head gasket. Should fix any propensity to cracking between the exhaust seat and the injector hole. Then I'll go to 1.5" OD intake seats, and whatever fits for exhausts. Maybe some 5.5mm honda valve stems, too. Maybe roller rockers from a mitsu v6 like you find in older caravans. Probably just do lash cap adjustable solid buckets with individual hydraulic passages to the exhausts. Separate little hydraulic cylinder mounted at the right spot to catch a cam lobe and open the valve a couple hundredths, something like 10 degrees before TDC. Solenoid fills the loop with oil, leakage through the lifter bores lets the system drain down when off the 'jakes'
eta: 1-10-15, runs and drives, screwed up the assembly of the VNT mech, so it only can clamp the vanes down about halfway before it hits the spacers (I put them around the screws in between the vanes rather than around the pins, oops) So I'll be pulling it down and fixing that tomorrow, checking the cam timing and probably backing off the IP timing a little tiny bit, got it advanced to a minimum of 7.5 degrees BTDC, was hoping for around 6 degrees minimum advance. Might even get some pics of the compounds in their natural habitat, from the underside to boot. Got a 4 BAR map ordered, so I'll be able to actually tune for more pressure.
Plans are in my brain for a water/air intercooler integrated into the intake manifold, made out of an old A/C evaporator that had a pinhole leak in the piping. Right now I'm using the stock intake system from the VNT turbo to the intake ports in the head. Plastic tanks usually don't live long beyond 20 PSI.
Just keeping my thoughts ordered (as they get)