alright im in the middle of putting my amc 304 together and there are small oval shaped stampings in the top of the piston on the side and i want to know if thats what indicates to face the front of the engine. also i installed #1 and 2 pistons and rods having the 0 shaped mark facing the front of the engine and it was very tough to spin, so i pulled the caps to make sure i had them on the right way and then removed the rods, torqued and checked clearences and everythings in specs so maybe i dont have the pistons in the right way? please help  

The notch goes forward. The pistons have an offset pin. They will run quieter (less piston slap) if the notch is forward. But if you reverse it, the motor will be noiser and have less friction. Some think more torque, but I don't know.

Also, you should be turning the crank with a torque wrench as you install each piston to determine if it's tight. The torque to turn increases as more pistons are installed. I don't remember the torque (resistance) but you should look it up.  

ive built sbc's before and i think this 304 felt way too tight even after having just 2 pistons/rods installed  

ohh so im supposed to face the 2 LARGE notches forward? i was talking about the very small stamped 0val on the face of the piston  

Did you gap the rings and are you plasti-gaging the rod bearing journal clearances? How did the crank spin with no rods installed?  

ya also can't mix up the main caps and rod caps,.
if they are yer gonna have to have it line honed. and the rods resized. both can cause things to get real tight. the  old pistons need to go back into the holes they came out of if this is basicly a ring and bearing job.