Thanks alot Fabian for the info about the performance connecting rod replacement. It looks interesting, but I think the real issuebeing the bearings and ignition timing problem.....I will have to go for the heart of the problem. My budget is so incredibly limited, so I will try to repair the old connecting rod and crankshaft. I work in a hangar that has a welding shop and and machining shop. If we can get that crank apart, I can ask them to take off the damaged layers in the connecting rod and on the crank bearing surface. They're all pretty hip about my ride, so the main welder, a little granny that acts like a young girl, already offered to make my expansion pipe for free. The funny things is, that she welds so darn good(and is highly respected for that) that she even welded two pieces of 1 mm stainless sheet for me(as a test on my metal for the pipe), using a 2 mm stainless electrode - on a normal welder - no argon or torch welding. She said nobody else can do that, it's just that she has great experience packed in her hands. I gave her the pieces to see if she could do it. Next, I was planning to cut and bend all the pieces for the pipe, but now it looks like I'll have to tap the collective resources of our factory for more urgent matters. With the rod and crank surfaces remachined(will cost me nothing if do-able), then I'll just have to find performance needle bearings or cage and bearings to fit the new size. I know, I should think ahead and find them before machining. Does anybody know names of a good super performance bearing? SKF, was one I saw mentioned?