Help!! Rolling in Mains

IHI-RHC7

IHI-RHC7

"The Boss"
Apr 1, 2005
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Hey, I just replaced the rod bearings with great success and now i'm on to the mains...
I dropped the subframe (thank you toyota) dropped the pan and the oil pump and the rod bearings were cake.
I then pulled the first main cap, and used a small allan wrench through the oil port in the crank journal to pull the top bearing out of the block. When I tried to reverse this process, the bearing caught on the oiling hole, and made a bit of a ridge that was preventing the bearing from rolling the rest of the way in.
I shaved a bit of material off of the back of the bearing, where it was catching, and it inserted about .5mm further and then caught again. This went on a few more times, and then the last time I pulled the bearing out to shave it, It had bent. $20 down the drain.
Have any of you rolled in new bearings under the car? The only thing i can think to do is to unbolt all of the main caps and remove them completely in hopes that the crank will drop down far enough to let the bearings roll into place. The only thing supporting it up front would be the oil seal, and that should have enough play in it, but will the rear of the crank drop down far enough to roll in the rear bearings?
Anyone with any experience with any motor, please give your input. I'm at my wit's end.
Thanks
~ Jake and Heidi
 
IHI-RHC7

IHI-RHC7

"The Boss"
Apr 1, 2005
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so the tranny won't keep the rear of the crank lifted?
luckily I'm stupid and ordered two of the wrong main bearings, so I'm only out the money, as I'd have to wait untill next weekend to get it back together anyway.
 
IHI-RHC7

IHI-RHC7

"The Boss"
Apr 1, 2005
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Thanks Ian, You're a lifesaver.
( not the candy kind...)
Would you roll in the top bearings, and replace the cap with the bottom bearing lossely?
so that the crank is never just hanging...
 
I

IJ.

Grumpy Old Man
Mar 30, 2005
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I'd roll all the uppers in then bolt #1 and #7 caps in with the old bearing then plastigauge #2>#6 with the new bearings in.

Then I'd leave #2>#6 done up and swap out #1 and #7 with the new bearings and plastigauge em.

Once you're happy with the clearance I'd pull #2>#6 caps smear em with moly grease and put em back leaving the bolts a few turns loose then pull #1 and #7 and do the same.

With the crank hanging I'd then carefully turn it so the Moly grease spreads all around the journal (making sure a bearing doesn't stick and turn)

Then I'd start pulling up in a crisscross pattern and retorque.
 
IHI-RHC7

IHI-RHC7

"The Boss"
Apr 1, 2005
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Thanks Ian, I'll do that, #6 and 7 are the ones I fudged up on, so hopefully they can order me a new #1 bearing, and swap out the #6 and 7 bearings by tuesday or so.
Do you roll the bearings in by hand, or is there a tool that I should have to roll them in without hurting them? The hex wrench worked great for getting it out, but I'm leery about using one to roll them in...
 
I

IJ.

Grumpy Old Man
Mar 30, 2005
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Jake: Glad to help!

I wouldn't use anything metal when doing this as it's too easy to mark the bearing or crank!

Last time I did this was on a domestic V8 I had when I was a kid and from memory I used the stick from an icecream to push em out then piece of plastic to tap em back in!

Since then I always pull the motor as I HATE working under cars! ;)
 
IHI-RHC7

IHI-RHC7

"The Boss"
Apr 1, 2005
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oh, well I didn't tap them in, I put the hex wrench through the oiling hole in the crank and lined that hole up with the hole in the bearing and then rotated the crank to pull the bearing out.
So if I let the crank drop, I should just be able to push them in and out instead of having to use fancy tools?
I'll get under there when the new bearings arrive and see how it looks.
By the way, i don't like the safc. It ate my #4 rod bearing. I'm pretty sure when it was last tuned on the dyno, the 15% of fuel they pulled advanced the timing enough under boost to detonate on #4. Next time I'm doing a baseline pull, and then reducing fuel pressure to get the afr a little leaner, then I'll do 5% max on the safc. Ideally, I think i should richen the mixture with the safc, then it shouldn't be as likely to detonate. I'm lucky i pulled the pan before the bearing spun.
Now my question is why no detonation on the other cyls?
 
IHI-RHC7

IHI-RHC7

"The Boss"
Apr 1, 2005
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Hmm, They're all pretty new RC 550s, probably 30K on them max.
I noticed that all of the rod bearings fell out of the caps, but only #4 showed any visible signs of detonation. Either way the new bearings should help my idle oil pressure, which was sitting at a paltry 9 psi...
The new bearings clipped in just like they should, and the mains looked like new, but I figured with 150K on the motor it would be wise to replace them. had I opted to leave them alone, I'd be driving it right now. instead, I'm driving a crx...
 
I

IJ.

Grumpy Old Man
Mar 30, 2005
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I'd be a bit concerned that the shells fell out Jake! (usually a bad sign)

I can't stress enough how important it is to platigauge the new bearings so you know where it's all at!
 
IHI-RHC7

IHI-RHC7

"The Boss"
Apr 1, 2005
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True true.
I think it may have had something to do with the dyno pulls going to 7K every time.
Plus it's an older motor. The new shells clipped in like they should.
I've heard that when the oil is polluted by gas that it can shrink the bearing shells.
Either way, I'm still building the big motor, so this motor will only be asked to make 350-400 whp until mid summer, when the big kahuna goes in. Most machine shops have plastiguage, right?
 
IHI-RHC7

IHI-RHC7

"The Boss"
Apr 1, 2005
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Everything is peachy up there, although...
Now that you mention it, I remember noticing one time when I was showing off the afpr to someone that the reference line didn't have any vaccum going to it. I wiggled something under the intake mani, and it started working again. I really didn't think too much of it, but if it has been failing intermittently, I wonder if it has been running with no boost reference for a little while. That would explain a ton...
I'll replumb that line and make sure it's a direct shot to the intake plenum.
Thanks for letting me bounce things off of you Ian...
( way better than "thanks for the head!")
 
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