Hello all, best wishes for the new year.

I'm in the process of reassembling my 544, and have finally gotten round to reinstalling the engine. This is a B18 which I rebuilt myself, basically stock except for .030 overbore domed pistons (ca. 9.5:1) and a D cam. As I was adjusting the valves the other night I discovered that, when turning the engine over by hand--with spark plugs removed--there's a very tight spot which seems to come around at regular intervals, maybe twice per firing order or so. To turn the engine past this spot requires much more force than what I would call "normal" for an non-compressing engine.

Having never rebuilt an engine before, I'm wondering if some of this could be a pre-run-in phenomenon? Should also confess that the engine sat assembled with no oil (all parts thoroughly coated in assembly lubes of various stripes, however) for two months before I installed it and added oil. Did not notice this situation when assembling the engine, but this was without clutch or transmission.

Any opinions as to how concerned I should be about this are welcome--thanks as always for your input--Nathan