Those clips in the pics, you should replace with spiral locks. If you have spiral locks to begin with and you haven't removed them...and this is a refresh deal. Leave them in and alone.
the picks u are referring to not posted by the O.P. and he is replacing the connecting rods. I have used tru arcs in pistons machined for tru arcs for 40 years without a single problem-like chrysler used in the 340 and hemi