gonzo3000

well heres whats happend today. I did take the engine completely apart again and I went and got some feeler gauges and some plastigauge. The bearing clearances for everything was in specs so I decided to move onto the rods and rod clearance. That was a painful and long process, but I think i might have gotten it. Right now ive got 5 pistons on and torqued and the crankshaft still spins but it takes about 50-60 ft lbs to start ir turning. Now ive figured it takes more force now than the stock 289 crankshaft did when I took it out because I have all new pistons and rings and bearings and everything is brand new. Is this a wrong assumtion. Oh and after that inital 50-60 ft lbs it turns pretty easy maybe like 40-50 ft lbs. Btw thanx for all the help from everyone I hope I got it this time because Im also trying to get ready to go on deployment in a lil which is stressful enough lol.

my77stang

what i meant about the tangs facing the right way is if you look at each half of the journal (main or rod, its the same deal) the tangs on the bearings should be on the same side of the journals.

Stepman

Not to be overlooked, make sure the rods are in the proper holes. They are chamfered on one side to fit against the crank...and flat on one side to fit against the next rod. The bearing surface of the crank isn't flat all the way to the edges, it is "radiused". Also, make sure you check the side clearance of the rods. Once you have 2 on a journal, there should be some side movement of the rods. (there is a spec for this)

gonzo3000

YES. All the main cap, rod, and bearing clearances and gaps are all correct now. I got the entire crank rods and pistons torqued to specs and the heads on and the valves all adjusted and it still spins. Its a little tough but I can spin it with one arm so I figured thats good seeing as I only weight 155 and am 5'6". But either way everythings torqued to specs and adjusted and it still fricken spins im so happy ill have it all buttoned up tonite and ready to get put back in tomarrow afternoon when I get off work and im gonna try startin it tomarrow. Thanks everyone for the help it is greatly appreciated. Oh btw ive been finishing up the interior while ive been doing all this engine stuff so I have had my hands full lol. anyway thanks again very much.

Stepman

So.....what did you find that put it in a bind?

gonzo3000

when I took the rods out of the box and cleaned them and inspected them I kept each rod with the same cap that was in the box. When I installed them onto the crankshaft I didn't check to make sure the numbers were matching I figured that they would be matching if they were in the same box together and when I went back to look the caps and rods were all mismatched so I fixed the number matching and had to change a few pistons around and actually had to take a couple pistons off the rods to flip the rods around. But once I did all that and made sure all the gaps were correct it spun fine. With the heads and valves all adjusted its a lil tough but I can still turn it with one arm. Idk why the kit hard all the rods and caps mixd up but that was definately the problem.

my77stang

glad you caught it now though, it would have been a disaster if you would have just tried to start it