[pcpat]

first time posting in a long while, so please bear with me...
I have a question regarding rebuilding my engine. I purchased my RPU as a basket case, and never had the engine run since it it was partially disassembled when i picked it up, but the engine turned free. I finished tearing down the engine and brought the block to a local machine shop get bored, he bored it to 30 over. I picked up the pistons and rings from Snyders and following Les Andrews book, measured the rings for proper clearance before installing.
Checked the babits, and they looked really good, Installed the crank and shimmed it so the plasti-gauge was at .002 but when turning it was way to tight, added some additional shims which brought the plasti-gauge measurement to .0025-.003 but the crank was able to turn with about 25 lbs pressure per the book.
Now the issue...Installed the pistons one at a time, again checking each piston to keep the clearance around .002 and added more shims so it wasn't binding and each piston added additional force to turn but all moved without binding; however, when all the pistons are connected, it takes quite a bit of effort to hand crank the engine (no heads are installed yet), the effort is way more than 35 lbs like the book says.
Is this normal for new pistons and rings or is there something I have missed? The rings measured correctly, but will the block need to be bored out more/? Will this amount of effort ease up after the engine has turned over and ran for a bit? Any guidance or thoughts are welcome.