One additional tip. To get the con-rod off the shaft you first need to slide the conrod all the way to the back on the wrist-pin. Quite often the wrist pin gets a bit "cruddy". The trick is to clean the wrist pin with a loop of dental floss to allow the conrod to slide more easily.

If you ever take the the con-rod out of the piston you can tell which way it goes back by the chamfer in the p/bronze bushing. The chamfer goes nearest the crankshaft.

Eric.