What did your new engine builder say was wrong with it? I showed this thread to an R&D engineer I work with and he showed me some key things on the rod where the bearing went to copper. He felt that particular rod wasn't machined correctly. Just his opinion. Load portion of the bearing had less wear than the sides revealing that the side to side measurement/clearances appeared to be too tight. Naturally the load portion didn't look good but was probably messed up from side to side bearing issue wiping the bearing.