I appreciate the input and all the information. Thank you all
@Gee Emm , I've not forgotten about the Laminova, I only want to see what the behavior is first before adding more complication, and budget is stretched thin after the machine shop labor .

@Fireindc that's the first time I've heard about that. Does that actually work or are you messing with me?

One more question on oil: The builder specified 30W break in oil for two heat cycles. Then a drive cycle of about 50 miles to seat the rings with Lucas 20w-50 break in oil, and then the VR1 20W-50 non-synthetic. He told me to not use synthetic oil until 5k miles. So basically at least two oil changes of non-synthetic VR1. I have no issue with that, but I'm wondering what the reason is for that? I understand non-synthetic during break-in + the first 500 to 1k miles, but 5k seems like a lot.

 

No cap about the oil mixing, you can mix weights and get something in between the two. You should only do this by mixing the same oil brand/type though, since sometimes the additives between two different oil types/brands don't jive together and could theoretically cause issues. I did the same with Rotella to make a 10w40 when I was running that.

As for the break-in, just do what they say. I think in your case the cams and valvetrain are a big part of the longer break-in period. Also depending on your piston ring choice they might take 2-3k miles to fully break in. Chromoly rings for example are super hard and take quite a long time to fully break in.