@andyma Looks like my connecting rod won't arrive until some time next week so it may be a while before I can begin to assemble. I am getting more and more frustrated with the lack of information from the manuals and doing searches on Google. I only have one shot of getting this right since there are no replacement engines or shortblocks for this Ariens ST7524 blower. Reviewing everything again I see another potential issue which is confusing. If you look at the manual(figure 33 in original post), it states the marks on the connecting rod must align and face out. Simple enough, but if you look at the oiler assembly in that drawing, the concave side of the oiler is facing up. Now picture in your mind, the flywheel rotation is clockwise, in that direction the oiler would NOT be scooping up the oil as the design indicates, but pushing it to the camshaft side, rather than upwards to the piston cylinder. I hope that someone with experience will reply to this post and hopefully provide an answer before I assemble. You probably have the manual, but if not below is a link that you can download the Tecumseh L Head service manual. I hope it can answer your questions but I doubt it will. http://www.allotment.org.uk/assets/rotovator/Tecumseh-Engine-Manual.pdf

Thanks for posting the pictures. After seeing your bathroom I was dying to see your husband's bath and you did not disappoint (I mean I am still alive; and thrilled). This is a great job. It has a nice playful vibe to it. Also very masculine (with Steel and glass etc). Awesome. Thanks for the pix. Truly inspirational.

Sounds like you are having a good trip! St. Augustine is a nice area. Did you by chance go into Amelia island? A favorite location of ours. I have a friend in Florida who told me the "love bugs" are now there - have you run into those yet (maybe not in the part you are traveling). Take care - eat well, be safe and have fun!!! Love seeing your pictures. tina

I had this exact same issue when I started designing my kitchen a few months back. My island will also be 6.5' long, and I ended up drawing the setup in autocad with the dimensions I was interested in. I ended up settling on the configuration in the image I attached. The island is 6.5 long, and the pendants are 14" in width. I think ultimately there's no right answer in a vacuum, depends on the other elements in your kitchen. Our island sits prominently in the middle of the kitchen and is the focal point when you first walk in. Our cabinets are also very simple, done purposefully so we could go a bit more extravagant on the finishing details including islanding lighting, hardware, and faucets. We played around with lights bigger than these and it didn't look right. We also played around with 2 light setups and it felt off to me. Good luck with what you choose!