Great to see you're putting together a new motor, Rick.
Agree 100% with Brent; look at I- beam rods like the Crowers. Maybe Howards have some as well. They may save you some weight and be PLENTY strong. I would even look at the Scat I- beams (will save more weifght, for sure). They can live to some HP and even some revs. May be less suitable for 7000+ revs?
The piston -pin in the
oil- ring debate always pop up in these discussion. With Brent and others on this- it's a no- issue.
On your 3" stroke combo, this will be of no concern anyways, beacuse you will have more CH. Look at ICON (KB forged), they have shelf pistons for 3" stroke 5.4" rod combo. A flat top will save you some grms, but you'd need small chambers to get the comp. Probably other manufaturers have these pistons too?
An interesting project would be to use a shelf 347 piston with a longer rod for a stock stroke combo. Rods would have to be in the 5.5" area, custom rods most likely.