Right then. Further to my previous question over piston choice I need some more advice.
I'm building a forged 86mm bore Zetec bottom end for ZVH use. I'm sticking with ZVH as I have a well specc'd head modified to use a Zetec headgasket, and good inlet set up so want to keep costs down slightly and use what I have as I have already spent £360 on a brand new Newman Cam and lifters.

Now the problems.

I have a set of Accrilite Forged pistons in my existing bottom end, and a set of early Mahle C20XE forged pistons. I've been told to use the XE pistons but I would like to know what rods are best to use with these and what sort of CR I'd be looking at?

The Accrilite pistons I'm unsure if/how much they have been machined. But at TDC they sit about 3mm below the deck height. I will measure this wednesday and get a more accurate measure.

Eagle rods seem cheap to import but I'm told they are longer than standard rods so throw the CR out?

I how ZVH, becuase of the combustion area being bigger in the head can get away with running what would be slightly too high in a Zetec Turbo. Can anyone shed some light here? Most of the info is ZT based.