Gentlemen, a great read and thread this and my reason for registering for my first post, the right person in silverbullet, as an engineer, was needed to carry the historic 2.5 OKRASA onward and upward (forward), I imported a kit from Germany way back in 1986 and assembled it into a 1.9 pre 'B' case for turbocharged use in Rallycross and fitted in a VW Beetle, unfortunately, the 90's recession and a change in Motorsport direction meant it sat unused for 26 years, but Cutting to the quick, it's now out doing what it does best and worrying 911's on race tracks

all be it somewhat de tuned, and minus it's turbo, in short, it's reliable, at least for a racing motor, quite a revelation after racing air cooled engines. One thing I can throw in as regards building these motors is to watch out for the barrel spigot sealing shoulder fouling on the shouldered case nuts, the result won't need description, but I guess it depends purely on bad luck, as I find the shoulders on the nuts vary, and trust me not to notice one odd ball had the un desired effect.
Another thing I do when fitting the remaining piston pin circlips, is to dilibertly miss fit it into the wrist pin bore and then push it into position, I use a suitabley sized alloy drift, the idea is to 'hear' it click positively into place, I think you can guess why I do this,,,,

let's just say it works and you KNOW the clip is in the groove.. Don't ask...
So again, congrats on reviving these historic motors, and as ever, the Brits tech and engineering nous saves the day.
My own 2.5 is constantly evolving, just now having a valve job and some more valve lift introduced via new rockers.
Best regards, John.