I'm going along with the consensus that says the rods were installed on the pistons for proper reverse rotation and who ever installed the rod and piston assemblies in the block put them in wrong. Right if you go by the normal way the pistons are installed but wrong for a reverse rotation engine and the rods are in wrong. The Hamber who really knew the ins and outs of these setups passed away a few months ago so we can't call on him (Capt John Aydelotte). If you plan to run it as a standard rotation engine I'd just strip it down to the the bare block and build it back up right. Use the right pieces and put them in the right way and done.
I did a 283 for me friends '59 Chris Craft and I have a marine 426 Chrysler short block in my car. Here are a couple of things I have learned. I see the motor in question is gear drive for the cam. If it's two gear, the cam spins in the normal way. If it's three gear, has an idler, the cams spins opposite also. If the crank is knurled at the rear seal location. It will be in reverse and will push oil out if you rotate the engine in the correct way. Also I think a 2680 crank is a nitrated version.
Thanks squirrel. Sounds like an easy solution and i'm not worried about putting them in different holes due to it being run only long enough to set the valves. Since this motor has rod caps with the oil squirt passage in them should I look into getting bearings with the notch in them or is it just not that important? My cam is ground backwards for the reverse rotation so I will need to find one that builds power in the lower rpm ranges. Props become very ineffective at high rpm (cavitation) and also a timing set and standard starter (marine)
I am taking the motor down completly to check everything (piston side clearence, ring end gaps. bearing clearences, ect) Thanks to all who commented. I just had never seen or heard of any sbc rods being installed this way for auto/marine/forward/reverse or any other reason, just wanted to see if I was missing out on new trick.
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