We didn't get a shot to play with spacers. The NOS plate is - ahem - "functional" but untested at this time. Given the huge plenum volume of the Dove I did not really consider adding more - but its a cheap try and I'll do it some time.
The rings do not cut into the
oil groove. I work at Speed-Pro, and I really don't like it when folks do that. I am quite aware that guys do it all the time - but that don't mean that I have to agree. I feel that piston guys put tremendous effort in getting the grooves smooth and accurate - and then people chop 'em to insert a POS spacer adding weight to the ring pack.
Oil control is vastly more important to making horsepower than is the incremental gains attributed to a smidgen of rod length.
The photos don't show it, but we ended up mounting a crank trigger to the passenger side of the engine down low - - where it interferes with the alternator mount (I guess i didn't have enough to do). My EFI is "bank to bank" - if I had needed a cam sensor the MSD distributor can be easily modified to serve the purpose.