ORIGINAL: daven
Jim, it is very important with the .50sx that the piston gets put on the crank with the camfer on the front. This is a ringed engine, and the gap on the ring will fall in a different spot if you rotated the piston.
Please explain what you mean by "camfer on the front". Is there some way for me to tell which direction the rod is connected, like maybe a tell-tail wear mark on the lining where the ring gap is?
I will hold off re-assembling the engine until I am convinced I have it correct -- this is a fantastic running engine and the only complaint I had was how quickly it became varnished-up.