Engine Re-Assy Problem

I bought a 440 that had been sitting for a while. It's a 76-ish (ext. bal.) motor home engine. I pulled the caps to check the barings in the bottom ends. All the bearing look fine, the crank went back in fine. I put the rod bearings back together (without spinning then engine over each time) and it was locked up tight.
I found the rod that was locking up on the crank. I removed all the pistons to clean and inspect. After putting them back in, now I have two rods/caps that are locking up on the crank. It's the #1 and #3 piston/rod assemblies. When torqued down to 45 ft/lbs, the crank won't turn at all. With those loose and the other 6 torqued down, it turns over fine.
I tried swapping piston/rod assemblies with one that turned fine after torquing. The problem stayed at the same position, #3. I tried swapping caps, no good and then just bearings, no good. Now, everything is back where it started, no matter what I tried, #1 and #3 always lock it up.

Does anyone have any ideas? When I torque those two down, it feels like it takes a lot more to get the to torque than the other rods. All caps are orientated correctly to the rods as well.
Author: admin