Motor assembly tonight!!
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 440
Likes: 0
From: Sanford Florida
Motor assembly tonight!!
Alright. Tonight or tomorrow I am assembling my motor. I have never done one on my own, but have participated in doing them before. Does anybody have any suggestions, tips, tricks... It is a four bolt, late model roller 350, and all I am doing is the lower half. I would also like to know what the clearances and torque specs you motor guys would reccomend. I have a good torque wrench, assembly lube, plastiguage, my rear main seal. What do I need to know? Any help is good help. Thanks, Chuck
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jul 1999
Posts: 9,206
Likes: 17
From: Sewell NJ
Re: Motor assembly tonight!! (boredsoIstrokedit)
The only tip I can give you that isn't already in the assembly manual is to have good organization. Lay a piece of paper on your workbench and arrange all the parts you will install. Keep them in the order you want to install them. Lay out all the fasteners you will need also. As you are laying things out organize the tools you'll need at the other end of the bench. Make sure you have all your sealants and a can of oil. Put a roll of paper towels on the bench and have some shop rags handy. By laying everything out ahead of time you're really building the engine in your head and getting all the things you need. It saves a lot of time when you actually do the deed and eliminates all the unnecesary searching for tools and what not. Once you've got everything laid out you've got half the battle won. Good luck. Take your time and pay attention to detail. Let us know how you make out.
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 440
Likes: 0
From: Sanford Florida
Re: Motor assembly tonight!! (boredsoIstrokedit)
Thanks guys. The crank is in, and the clearances looked pretty good. All of the center caps were at .002 to .0025, and the thrust main was about .0025-.003, the front was .002. Everything went smoothe, I didn't check the endplay, though :(. Anybody tell me how? We never did it in the race motors, but I have a stick going in, not an auto, so I am a little worried (should I be?) Rods are going in tomorrow. Great advice so far, keep it coming.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 2,337
Likes: 14
From: Norfolk VA
Re: Motor assembly tonight!! (boredsoIstrokedit)
Get a dial indicator and attatch it to the engine block(guage should have a magnetic base to allow yo to do this) with the tip of the dial indicator touching the front end of the crankshaft. Rotate the bezel on the indicator until the pointer is pointing on the number zero.(do this if the pointer is not pointing to the number zero, if it is you neednt worry about doing this step) Take a large screwdriver and place it between the fourth main cap and counterweight and gently pry against the bearing cap. This will cause the crankshaft to move forward. Have anothe person look at the indicator while you are doing this. The distance the pointer moves on the indicator will tell you how much end play is. Then place the screwdriver on the opposite side of the main bearing cap and pry it back to its original position(pointer should move back to zero).
