I have a ton more footage to post. I got way down in the weeds on this light video and it is taking forever to get it done. I've got a three point trailer hitch I built and a simple rake design that works with it.

Yeah, I've used it a lot. It isn't clean and pretty anymore. I didn't use a leather belt. I got one of the synthetic ones, can't remember what it is called. Probably got it from McMaster-Carr. I bought some belt clips and an old lacer tool and just made my own belt. Don't remember the length, but when it is loose, it is just barely loose enough to move to a different pulley. I actually have to move one end to a smaller lower pulley before I can go over the next bigger pulley on the spindle. I think the deepest I have cut in steel was about 1/4", but it didn't seem happy. Speed was very slow. It's been a long time. Supposedly it will cut 3/8" in one pass, but I haven't tried it. Might be able to do that in aluminum.

I had to go back through and read my own post to understand what you meant. I did buy a 1700 P&C set, but I only mentioned it because it was ordered with the 85.5mm 1585 P&C set and some other parts from AA. I bought the 1700 pistons for the Type 4 engine I wanted to build, but haven't started on yet. I used the stock size 85.5mm ones in the engine in the video.

I know this is a really old question, but I thought I would answer anyway while I am in here. Since that video was made, I have had to replace the VFD with another similar one. The original one got fried during a storm. I have it set up to show the motor frequency on the display and can adjust it with the knob. So when it is set to 60 (Hz) the motor is running at, I think 1750 rpm. I have run it up to 90 for a few seconds, but don't really use it like that. If I need a faster speed, I move the belt. I usually use the VFD to do fine adjustments to the speed depending on what I'm doing. If it needs to be a little bit faster, I might go up to 70, if it needs to be a bit slower, I'll go down to 50 or 40. I never go below 30. If it is spinning too slow, the motor doesn't cool well. I'm not concerned with bearing life because I've never run it at the max spindle speed. It would have to be on the smallest spindle pulley and I just never need to spin it that fast. 1750 rpm (motor) on the small pulley would be super fast. Mine is almost always on the large pulley closest to the chuck.

Parts for these bigger machines are a little bit harder to find than for the smaller, more popular sizes, but they are still out there. I found most of the things I needed on ebay, but there are several forums on the web devoted to South Bend lathes and those guys can often find anything you need. The best advice I can give is to try to get as much tooling with it that you can. That stuff adds up and you can easily spend as much on chucks and tool holders as you did on the lathe itself.