Viair 450 rebuild problem...

So I got my rebuild kit for my 450 consisting of a new cylinder and a new piston/conrod/bearing assembly.

Put it all in and go to put it back together... and it seems that the piston is off center towards the rear of the cylinder and I cannot get it to line up to save my life.

Tried removing the piston again... make sure its bottoming out on the armature spindle.. and still its a good 1/8"-3/16" towards the rear of the "case" so if you were to put the cylinder onto the piston it would have to be forced into place to line up and put the bolts in... I'm not dumb enough to do that. What the hell am I doing wrong?

do you have the piston counterweight facing the correct side?

I also think I heard that there are 2 versions of the 450? Maybe make sure that you got the actual correct parts for the rebuild. I think the models are different from like 1 1/2 years ago til now?

There is only one possible way to install the piston/rod assembly, its a dead end hole that goes over the armature spindle with a set screw - no way to put it on backwards. I haven't got a clue if I have the "right" parts - just got the parts for a Viair 450 from Lowrider Depot...