Rod and main bearings, need tips
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 173
Likes: 0
From: Hattiesburg MS
Rod and main bearings, need tips
Well, after installing the new vortec heads and air gap intake the car was much faster until it started knocking. I pulled the pan and the rod caps and found that # 5 rod bearing was pretty much melted. Went today and bought new bearings, rods and mains. My plan is to replace the bearings and be able to run the car for another 4 - 6 months until I can afford the stroker parts to build the engine with. Going to roll the old mains out and roll new ones in. This is my first chevy and was wondering if there are any special tips anyone could give me. Chiltons says that there is a thrust bearing (# 5) that needs to be aligned but the only one that has any thrust surfaces on it is the rear main. Book shows that it is the third main cap from the front. I am confussed because it doesn't have any side thrust surfaces on it. Can someone give me a pointer on this? Any feedback would be welcome. 
Advanced
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 96
Likes: 0
From: portland TN
Before you go throwing bearings back into the engine I would try and figure out why you melted down a bearing. There must be a tollerance that is not correct or gone out of spec. You might be back into the same situation a couple of months down the road and if you plan to use your block with the new stroker parts, you might want to reconsider. If you let another bearing go you could toss the rod through the pan or block and then your going to be in deep do do.
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 173
Likes: 0
From: Hattiesburg MS
Originally Posted by After Shark
Before you go throwing bearings back into the engine I would try and figure out why you melted down a bearing. There must be a tollerance that is not correct or gone out of spec. You might be back into the same situation a couple of months down the road and if you plan to use your block with the new stroker parts, you might want to reconsider. If you let another bearing go you could toss the rod through the pan or block and then your going to be in deep do do.
All other rod bearings showed a great deal of wear but none were distroyed like this one. Does my theroy sound reasonable to you or am I way off?
