Finally, some progress! I put in my notice at work Monday and was told to get my things Tuesday morning. So with a few days of unexpected off time, I decided to take advantage and get some work done on the motor. I got the all my clearances finally cleared on the case halves. Was really just a matter of removing the casting marks on the right side. But for the first time, had both case halves together with cylinders and pistons and was able to rotate the entire assembled bottom and top end around. Yay!
Tomorrow's mission will be to take the rotating assembly over to a machine shop in the metro that my local vintage Brit expert recommended. I'm going to see if they can balance the assembly while they are at it. Then I'm going to speak with ARP to source correct cylinder/head studs. And finally, drop off my case halves to the machine shop next door to my old employer to have the oil tank TIG welded, and also have them machined for the O ring modification. Will be a busy day for sure.