Guest gbvol54 Posted January 29, 2002 Share Posted January 29, 2002 Over the weekend, while cleaning/prepping the the 350 4-bolt block for the machine shop I noticed I no longer had markings on my main bearing caps indicating in which position they belong. I know rod bearing caps must go back on the rod they came off (and thankfully I managed to keep these straight). Does the same apply to main bearing caps? Am I gonna spin a bearing if I miss match the main caps? Is a line bore in my immediate future? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
denny411 Posted January 29, 2002 Share Posted January 29, 2002 The main caps absolutely must be in there proper position(or the engine will die an early death due to bearing failure) most caps have some sort of marking on them although they may be very faint.look very closely to make sure.If there are no markings then you will have to have the block line bored SORRY but thats the breaks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted January 29, 2002 Share Posted January 29, 2002 I'm afraid he is probably right. You could roll the dice and hope you got them right, but it'll run much smoother if its all in alignment and true. So the question is.... DO YA FEEL LUCKY? WELL? DO YA? Sorry. Regards, Lone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumpyvette Posted January 29, 2002 Share Posted January 29, 2002 don,t panic ,your not the first or the last person to do that! first thing you should know is that you only have the front 4 caps to worry about (the rear main cap only goes on one way) now get a magnifiying glass and a good strong light,and a couple cans of spray carb cleaner now first off the side of the cap with the notch for the bearing tabs matches the same side in the block with the bearing tab notches, so just place a cap on the first bearing position and lightly tap it in place , spray it down on area the bearings fit with carb cleaner and with a strong light and a magnifiying glass inspect the fine scratches left when they honed it to fit, by carefully looking at how the fine scratches line up you can determine if that cap matches, if it does not move it to the next journal and try again, after you determine where the caps go , use an inside micrometer to make sure everything is correct, after your sure.... stamp the caps with an arrow pointing forward and a number so it will not happen again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest gbvol54 Posted January 30, 2002 Share Posted January 30, 2002 Thanks Grumpy. The caps are marked with an arrow beside a sideways "F" which I assume denotes the forward direction of the cap. Since the front main is unique this reduces the puzzle to three pieces I'll use your suggestion to make sure I get them straight. Thanks again. You've saved the budget the cost of a line bore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted January 30, 2002 Share Posted January 30, 2002 Excellent Idea Grumpy, man, I never thought of using the arts of forensic sciences on a crank, but that makes much sense that the machining scratches would line up. Your the man! And I said to line bore, sheeshhh open mouth and insert foot... Ok, I'll just put this pointy hat on and observe the SBC masters... Regards, Lone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumpyvette Posted January 30, 2002 Share Posted January 30, 2002 you only learn this stuff by screwing up and haveing to fix the screw up! so don,t feel like your alone in haveing done it, but from now on you will mark the caps BEFORE REMOVEING THEM ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.