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| Northstar rebuild: Will style (Page 42/119) |
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Will
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APR 20, 10:47 AM
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I partially QC'd many of the components over the weekend: Piston diameter, pin bores in pistons and rods, pin diameters, crank journals. I couldn't snag the right bore mic or dial bore gauges for the weekend, but I think I should be able to next weekend. What remains is piston groove widths, main bearing bore ID's, main bearing ID's, rod bearing bore ID's, rod bearing ID's, cylinder bore ID's and crank runout.
I am NOT happy with the work on the crank journals. I've measured .0005 out of round on a main and .0005 taper on a rod journal. Considering that I've measured a stock crank with 100,000 miles that was PEFECT to the .0001 at all locations, I'm not impressed. I expected better from a "performance" crank shop. This isn't a super tight clearance Honda rod Nascar engine, so the journal weirdness shouldn't be a problem on this build due to the relatively wide clearances I'll be running, but I'm still annoyed.
Total Seal's diamond finish rings don't live up to their propaganda either.
I would have been able to get the whole thing done, but I had to help my dad cut up the floor in his garage to unearth the old cess pit over which the garage was built. It's about 9 feet in diameter and 7 feet deep. We drilled holes in the floor, planted anchors, attached the anchors to the chain hoist, cut slabs out and lifted them out of the floor. Gotta get it filled with something before cutting the rest of the floor out and pouring a new floor.[This message has been edited by Will (edited 04-20-2009).]
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Will
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APR 20, 02:04 PM
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Mental note: also need to gap rings.
Yes, one must gap gapless rings. 
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Will
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APR 24, 11:33 AM
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Oh yeah... the crank guy ALSO shot peened the rear main seal surface. Grrr....
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Will
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APR 25, 10:31 PM
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I got a bunch more QC work done today: rod bearings (ID and roundness), main bearings (ID and roundness), cylinder bores (ID, roundness and taper).
Still to go: gap rings, wash everything, check crank runout (potential build killer), assemble rods & pistons, install rods, pisotns and crank in block to get piston deck measurement.
I may decide to hold off on installing the rings until next weekend. I might be able to finagle use of the CMM to check ring groove widths.
Overall I'm making slower progress than I want, but I'm making progress. I should be able to meet my need date for the MLS gasket order, which is Monday.
Right now I'm crunching numbers for clearances... matching pistons to bores, rods to journals, etc.[This message has been edited by Will (edited 04-25-2009).]
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KurtAKX
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APR 26, 02:46 AM
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| quote | Originally posted by Will:
I may decide to hold off on installing the rings until next weekend. I might be able to finagle use of the CMM to check ring groove widths.
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For fucq's sake, its critical, but its not THAT critical!
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Will
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APR 26, 08:04 AM
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When you have a ring/piston combo that's specifically matched for .001 side clearance, then it IS pretty critical.
Besides, if I don't know what I built this time, how do I know what to build next time?
What I need to do this weekend is get the pistons/rods/crank into the shortblock to get the piston deck measured so I can get my MLS gaskets ordered so I can get the quench right.
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tjm4fun
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APR 26, 10:10 AM
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Will, I applaud your efforts. You are attempting to make a diamond out of a piece of coal there! Just curious tho, are all the pistons/rods/crank wieghts balanced equally? or will you balance after the fit? I may have missed the plan for that somewhere in this thread, but with all that work and machining to those tolerances, it would be a waste not to have it precision balanced...
As a side note, with all the blocks you have around, you shoulda thrown a runner in the car just so you could enjoy the car, beat on it and note failures, at least you can get some road time on the rest of the car... just a thought... carry on!
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KurtAKX
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APR 26, 12:15 PM
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| quote | Originally posted by Will:
When you have a ring/piston combo that's specifically matched for .001 side clearance, then it IS pretty critical.
Besides, if I don't know what I built this time, how do I know what to build next time?
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Sure, the clearance is important, but using CMM or holomapping is like using an 8 lb sledge to put tacks in the wall for hanging pictures.
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Will
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APR 26, 12:42 PM
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Coal?  The things I'm complaining about aren't *PERFECT*, but they are acceptable.
Got all the clearances sorted out; I mixed-and-matched the rods and pistons with the block and crank to give me a combination that resulted in quite uniform rod bearing and piston-bore clearances. The main clearances are within spec, although the #4 is on the tight side. One of the pistons is a little bigger and will be quite snug, even in the biggest bore. I'm going to have to make some phone calls to be sure that will be OK.
Off to get some more pipe cleaners and scour pads...
I tried installing a temp engine... it suffered a head gasket failure. Warranteed blocks are like that...[This message has been edited by Will (edited 04-26-2009).]
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Erik
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APR 26, 02:41 PM
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What are you expecting from this engine??
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