+3 for Tim's tool I just bought one off eBay about a month or so ago and it worked great. What I would've preferred though was to find a fitting to go in the spark plug hole to use compressed air instead of the supplied rope to hold up the valves. 

Any of you Mopar guys coming to KY this weekend for the Mopar event?

Love the truck Ross! Reminds me of one I should've checked further into about 26 hours away from home in Idaho Falls. We went out to get my Dads Mach 1 and sitting in the back yard of an abandoned house next to the hotel was a rust free 69 4x4 short bed 4 speed that hadn't been moved in a long time. They are certainly one of the best looking trucks out there to fix up just as yours.

Bore x Bore x Stroke x .7854 x 8 = CI

Great thread Drew, really enjoying it. My 9 yr old son has already laid claims on my old 78 that I built as a teenager so will hopefully be going through the same in a few years.

Thanks for the info and confirmation Mike. I had read about this option from John V. and wondered how much strength was sacrificed, but you answered that by racing it for 15 years.

Tom, you said something that caught my attention. You mentioned King bearing had 20, 30 and 40 under bearings that allowed further use of the Nascar crank? Did I read that right and are they still available? Because I dropped of a Nascar crank and rods at my machine shop awhile back that was already at .020 by quick measurements and was trying to figure out the best option.