knackerd crank?

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Sat Mar 26, 05 1:01 am

Alex, can you give us kids a write up on the correct method of installing a crank so we don't make a meal of it in future, this is exactly the kind of thing I would overlook

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Sat Mar 26, 05 6:58 am

When assembling thrust bearings:

Tighten main cap bolts to approximately 10 to 15 ft.lb. to seat bearings, then loosen.

Tap main cap toward rear of engine with a soft faced hammer.

Tighten main cap bolts, finger tight.

Using a bar, force the crankshaft as far forward in the block as possible to align the bearing rear thrust faces.

While holding shaft in forward position, tighten main cap bolts to 10 to 15 ft.lbs.

Complete tightening main cap bolts to specifications in 2 or 3 equal steps.

The above procedure should align the bearing thrust faces with the crankshaft to maximize the amount of bearing area in contact for load carrying.

Dave-R · Post by **Dave-R** » Sat Mar 26, 05 8:33 am

Just to add that this is for the center (#3) main cap. The others you torque up fully first.

Alex · Post by **Alex** » Sat Mar 26, 05 8:41 am

Correct, and I tighten 2 and 4 and dial the crank first to check it is not bent before doing the outers.

Also when they are all tight check the thrust gap on both the cap and the block, they should be the same, if there is a difference back the cap bolts out and repeat the procedure, it is well worth taking time to get this right

Dave-R · Post by **Dave-R** » Sat Mar 26, 05 1:58 pm

I have removed the crank now. The bearings look quite good. Just one or two small scuff marks and on one or two a slight scratch.

The crank journals look ok though. Just a slight darkening that should polish off.

Both the main and con rod journals are 20 thou under. They measure the same from different angles except I have a variation of up to 2 thou on diameter from one main journal to another.

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Sat Mar 26, 05 6:35 pm

Cheers dudes

Good luck with the repairs Dave.

Pete · Post by **Pete** » Sat Mar 26, 05 6:42 pm

Dave - check the Journals for Taper from one end to the other; so you need to measure in at least 4 places per journal - and hopefully the #'s will be the same for all 4 measurements.

Dave-R · Post by **Dave-R** » Sat Mar 26, 05 6:53 pm

Okey Dokey. Ta.

Dave-R · Post by **Dave-R** » Tue Mar 29, 05 8:09 am

Last night I had another look at the torque converter. It still had a bit of fluid in it so I pulled the drain plug on it and ran it into a bowl. There was a lot more oil in there than I thought.

As I watched it it started to run with silver streaks in it....red and silver are a nice colour combo but not what i wanted to see in the trans oil.

Once empty I found that rotating the converter produced a metallic sounding rattle like a small ball bearing falling around in there. I don't think it is supposed to do that is it?

So maybe the converter has been 'ballooning' after all?

Ivor · Post by **Ivor** » Tue Mar 29, 05 9:42 am

Sorry it's taken a bit of time to get back to you Dave...I've been busy on the car!

Anyway, I had a very sim ilar situation with my 383, but not being numbers matching, in fact it has a blank engine number, I assumed the motor came out of a four speed car.

I had 60 thou end play as well, but after run the mike and dial gauge over everything, new bearings have brought everything back to normal...never found the cuase of the problem though.

The ridges in the thrust faces are what's pizzling me...usually suggests some feriegn objects have got in there...you didn't happen to mislay you false teeth while you were assembling it did you?

Dave-R · Post by **Dave-R** » Tue Mar 29, 05 12:46 pm

The bottom end was assembled by Geof Hauser and I trust him to do a good job of that.

The bearing was well worn right past the backing steel. The half that came loose was very rough at the edges and was probably jumping around some. Maybe that caused the uneven wear?

I am taking the crank to a place that might be able to fix it in about an hours time.

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Tue Mar 29, 05 1:44 pm

If the thrusts are worn past the wear metal and are all uneven then thats whats caused the ridges in the crank IMHO.

The converter pressure should always be checked, the best place is tee into the cooler feed line and check it there in drive, you only want to see around 50/80psi anymore than that and the convertor will push on the crank to much and break down the oil film between the thrusts.

Causes of high pressure could be transmission mods/ blocked or restricted cooler lines or blocked cooler, to check a cooler tee in both sides and compare the pressures.

It's all in the link i posted on the previous page

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Tue Mar 29, 05 5:18 pm

Sorry to hear that Dave listen if you get a chance give Doug a call at Crankshaft Specialists, they are over here, but he knows more about cranks than anyone- it's all they do and I'm sure he can help you pinpoint the problem.
He's too far away to fix it, I know but he will probably know why it happened? best of luck with getting it fixed

Dave-R · Post by **Dave-R** » Tue Mar 29, 05 5:53 pm

Hey Andy. You told me so! Bloody TCI.

No luck with the engineers I thought would be able to fix the crank. They used to have the kit to do it but sold it to a place up in Scotland. There is another place I can try but they were not open today when I called.

I am pretty sure the problem is converter/trans related. The lines of mercury that were running out of the converter with the fluid suggest something is not quite right and the noise it makes as you rotate it sounds like a small loose bead of metal bouncing off things and rolling to the bottom.

I am sure the cooler lines are not restricted and I know i am running a slightly higher line pressure because I adjusted it that way. It should not be so high as to cause this problem though I would have thought. It is no where near the "Race" settings for a B&M kit but slightly higher than their "Street/Strip" level.

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Tue Mar 29, 05 6:04 pm

sounds like a few sharp words might have to be spoken to them mate,I forgot to add the crank guy's phone # it's 901-452-6663 speak to Doug he runs the place and is a great guy. If you were a bit closer we could get it repaired in a few days, good luck with it