Thanks, and I also do believe the brass pads are there. I left the piston filled with break free overnight, but it has so far declined to actually break free. I then heated the assembly with a heat gun while the piston was upside down in the case/sleeve. All I managed to do at this point was to remove the sleeve from the case itself even though I heated the piston/rod/wrist pin to 306f and then tried to move it back and forth with the pin captured like downunder suggested.

Right now it is soaking again, this time in acetone. To be perfectly honest, if it does not free up I am not sure I am going to worry too much about it as the pin is going to rotate in whatever offers the least resistance. Even if I get the pin free from the rod I do not know that the pin is not going to be rotating in the piston instead of on the rod.

So now I will give the acetone a chance to get after it. On another note does anyone have a good suggestion for a period correct airframe? I think it would be kind of neat to put it in an early to mid 60's airplane. It would have to be pretty light though with some good wing area. I am really considering a Sig Seniorita or something similar.