After tearing apart the rear suspension, I sent the parts out and had them shot blasted in preparation for painting. They will also remove the bushings in the upper yoke, the rear ball joint and lower control arms in preparation for installing the new parts when they arrive, hopefully on Monday.
Finally, after all the parts issues our friends over at Springfield Auto Machine LLC after getting another set of proper sized rings began assembly of the motor. 
They 
began by balancing the crankshaft and then checking and balancing all of the connecting rods, some were off by as much as 20 grams.
Of course, nothing will go smoothly with this part of the project either, during assembly, they find that one of the rod bearings may not be right and decide to order another one. I am impressed with the quality of the work and really appreciate their attention to detail. It will pay back in spades over the years going forward. We still do not have the rocker arm shafts, but they are on the way…
By the end of the day, the lower end was assembled with seven piston and ring sets installed, the eighth will have to wait for the bearing to arrive.
