Wilson's VW book says 0.004" - 0.016" rod side clearance with a wear limit of 0.027".

My rods are 0.010" 0.012" 0.019" 0.010".

That 0.019" looks suspicious. It's outside of the optimal range. What is the proper course of action? Is it still ok since it is well within the wear limit?

Try switching around to other journals, you may find one its happier with.

If it's within spec it's OK.

Are you going to notch your rods?

What does it mean to notch a rod?

Look at this:

http://www.dolphinsci.com/techbull.html

Wow, cool. Thanks for pointing me to that. I had heard about the elimination of head gaskets but never seen the other ones.

I'll ask the machine shop about it when I bring all this stuff to them.

If I could only get the rod off I could try it in other journals. I can't fit my socket around one rod nut for some reason. I was able to fit it onto all the other rod nuts but something is up with this one. I may have to grind down a socket to get it to fit.

I was bummed when I saw that the side clearance for this rod is almost 2x all the others.