Starting new engine this week lifter question

[Iowa409]

Hey guys,
Got home went to work on the motor, got all the pistons out, got the crank out, pistons look brand new, cylinders look like they were just honed, no scratched walls at all, The crank shows damage on rear main bearing, and moderate damage on 8 and slight damage on 7, otherwise every bearing looks brand new and unharmed.


After getting all the pistons on the bench and measuring and using straight edge and my best eye, I do not think any rods are bent, I thought so, but should have reserved judgement until I had them out, my mistake, but a good one for the wallet.

So the question becomes to my machine shop, can we grind the crank and use some different bearings, otherwise get a crank and new bearings, so its looking better, I seen no metal, no shavings, no foreign objects, but I did see some debris, for a motor that set open for 2.5 years, there was bugs, other stuff that had made its way there, so I think I am the guilty one (That Sucks admitting your wrong) I should have dropped the pan and flushed this thing out really well, I have said all along this motor looks like it was built well, made no sense to me, well if I allowed all the debris in there, its good ol me that did it. So I'll award myself the dumb ass award. My apologies to Randy's Performance Machine shop, for questioning their workmanship, it was good and everything is new as they said it was.



I will do some checking on prices for a crank, clean the hell out of the block and put in new parts and start reassembling.

I need to find a manual that is good, detailed for reassembly, torques, sequence etc any suggestions?

 

[Iowa 409 Guy]

crow always tastes better when it's warm they say. I've had it a few times.

 

[Don Jacks]

We have on this site,tables for the torque specs and head tightening sequence ,I know of no "books" on assembly,other than possibly a factory assembly manual.We can walk you through that part as there are a few things that are W specific that must be adhered to,but it's not that bad.

 

[boxerdog]

This could be handy...

https://www.amazon.com/Build-Classic-Engines-Motorbooks-Workshop/dp/0760327777

 

[oldrod40]

Glad your getting it figured out. Can't wait till you get it all back together and it fires up strong.

 

[Iowa409]

Maybe you mentioned who built motor, maybe not ??? So who built it???

Glad your getting it figured out. Can't wait till you get it all back together and it fires up strong.

Thank you

 

[Iowa409]

crow always tastes better when it's warm they say. I've had it a few times.

True, I hate crow,lol but.....if the shoe fits, lace that dam thing up I guess.

 

[blkblk63ss]

What color will 64 be?

 

[Iowa409]

What color will 64 be?

Well that is a million dollar question I cannot decide...........Originally it was a ugly, ugly Beige/Tan they called Desert Tan, I have the matching Fawn interior that came from the factory, We have done a complete frame off on this car, it is going back together now for final mock up and then into paint, its sitting in Primer at the moment but getting the final Block sanding, door gaps and such have all been set at about 3/16, the car looks great, but the paint is unknown, my painter does high end customs, etc. so he is very good with Kandys, pearls whatever..... we are going to go three stage/kandy, I'll try to post some pics in primer,..... I do not want a factory type color, not in 2018, it don't work for me unless I was doing a points thing ,which I am not, I do not want a low rider paint job of multiple paints all pimped out. I am thinking one color for the car and a second color for the roof, my problem is I want the color to flow with the interior, I j have all new trim, completely for the outside of the car so I want the color to make the new shiny stuff "Pop" and "Bling"

 

[Iowa409]

 

[Iowa409]

Some of the shop pics

 

[Iowa409]

everything is new on the car all bushings, mounts, fuel lines, brake lines, shocks Upper and lower A frames, brakes I see in one pic he put the old gas tank mount bolts in, but we have new ones, he will change those, plus these are old pics, as we are getting closer a lot of these things have been corrected already. I have a Vintage air AC system for it.......It has taken 3 years to budget all this stuff, so it should be coming together soon, my machine shop guy is buried so the crank and motor will have to wait in line, but it will happen. when he can get to it. I spoke to Randys performance shop today, the original builder and he cannot identify the cam, its marked 417190, has no clue where that number came from, but he thinks maybe show cars, he knows the springs came from there, the mystery continues.....

 

[Phil Reed]

You said you didn't know if the crank was correct. Take a picture of the rear flange and post it here. We can tell if crank is correct.

 

[Iowa409]

You said you didn't know if the crank was correct. Take a picture of the rear flange and post it here. We can tell if crank is correct.

I will tonight when I get home, I looked it up online, it appears to be the correct crank from what I see in comparison, the 409 has a weird bell type look, that seems to be what I have, but I'll let you all be the judge of that. I did try to find a P/N on the crank but never could find it.


I am guessing from my conversation with the machine shop, we will have to take all the mains down (grind) because they only sell them bearings in sets, not individually, I am told you can buy rod bearings individually.

 

[Junky]

While some might not think that it is ethical to use different sized bearings on individual journals, we did it many times in the 1960's, and in some instances, we would just replace one or two pistons to fix a problem. I am not suggesting that you do it, however, if it were my engine, I would have no issues in only turning the journals that need it, and Plastigage each journal, and use the bearing insert that fits each journal. Back in the 1960's, GM sold individual bearings in varying degrees of sizes. One of the reasons that I don't care for cutting journals, is that you loose the hardness that the crankshaft was manufactured with. Who knows who might have a broken set of bearing inserts in the sizes that you need. I don't know if the rings are still sold in boxes, that have a flap on the box that indicates a "broken set", which meant that it wasn't a full set.

 

[Don Jacks]

Nice thought,Junky,,,but this is a W motor he's dealing with here in 2018.While I've done what you did "back in the day",main bearings with which to do that are simply not made anymore.A decent set of main bearings that will serve his mild engine's needs are still going to set him back about 160.00,if he went to the heavier duty Clevite,which for his intended operation wouldn't be necessary,runs closer to 200.Turning the crank is an option,but the good bearings are tough to find in the .030 under size.

 

[Junky]

Thanks for the explanation. Yes, I do live in the past quite a bit, because even though the body has aged, the mind still thinks it is 20! I guess it is called senility?? I'll go back to crafting my skills on the 265C.I. Chevy engines.. I think that I should start the 256-283-327 dot com website? Anyone here want to jump ship, and give me a hand??

 

[Don Jacks]

Yeah,I know,I loved them too.Heck,even a lowly 307 was a fun,sneaky little engine with dual exhaust,a head swap,and a 4bbl.carb.

 

[Iowa409]

Here’s a pic of crank Phil

 

[55Brodie]

Wow. A lot of schmegma in and on that flange.