True that!

Update: Engine has been at the machinist about a month and planning to get it back within a week or so. Due to scarcity of nearby donor blocks and the lack of availability of oversized pistons (I've called every major piston vendor), I'm having the block sleeved. Pricey, but I ran out of options.

Tranny is a 904 and it's already been rebuilt, so just waiting on the machinist so we can start reassembly of the engine.

I'm really eager to get this thing back on the road. I'm driving a loaner vehicle and as nice and new as it is, I MUCH prefer my 1985 D100. These new vehicles have the soul engineered out of them.

You're not looking at the right places. Pistons are out there.

Just thought about something else.
I don't know how good they are but I see the reman short blocks and long blocks by a company called MABBCO all over eBay for what doesn't seem too terrible of a price. No core needed, if you're sleeving it may be close enough in price to consider this route to at least check them out.

You are correct - I found a vendor in Australia that would custom build pistons the size I needed. Sadly, that option wasn't time or price feasible.

I appreciate the suggestion! I researched MABBCO fairly extensively when I started this project and decided against them because of their reputation online. It looks like people that have issues have a hard time working with the company to get the issues resolved. Since I have a local machinist that has a great reputation and I can get in front of him if there are issues, I decided to give my money to him, instead.