street_ride14

stock rods, ARP rod bolts ( 208-6401 ), new bearings. Torque required per ARP is 40 ft/lbs. I "might have" overtorqued these to about 50 ft/lbs.

Realized that my torque wrench used was not completely accurate after engine was all sealed up, did not think it was a problem at that time so did not change - now a little worried.

Any severe consequences ? Since oil pressure is low at idle, I think that's where troubles will be.

Muckman

iTrader: (2)

Did you measure the bearing clearances at the same torque?

street_ride14

no. pretty stupid of me not to, got carried away at completing the build. Motor runs. Any ill effects into the long term ?

Hybrid96EK

You could have inadequate clearance. It really SHOULD be retorqued to the correct spec unless you know for sure the clearances are ok at 50lbs.

street_ride14

yup, I agree. Wouldn't the bearing "seat itself in" over some time if left as-is ?

Hybrid96EK

Bearings are an extremely soft material. They are designed to be softer then the crank/rod obviously. If you have inadequate clearance then you will reduce the amount of oil allowed into the bearing. This is going to lead to an increase in heat/wear. While it might be "ok" for the time being, the fact still stands that if the clearances are too tight its only a matter of time before its going to fail. Considering its not much work to pull the oil pan/windage tray and then retorque the rods, I can't see this as being a difficult decision. You did clearance the bearings at 40ftlbs, right? If so, and you know they are in spec, I would be pulling the pan right now instead of reading this thread.

street_ride14

alright, on it.

JDogg

bearing clearances are one issue; however, you should probably replace the bolts, they are probably over stretched and going to break

Hybrid96EK

You think so? I can't see 10ftlbs harming an ARP bolt.

JDogg

the last time i delt with a broken rod bolt the bolt was torqued to 43ft/lbs but they were small bolts that usually take 28ft/lbs. I didnt build the motor, we were just installing the motor. The only reason we found the broken bolt was b/c we had to pull the pan to weld in a bung for the oil return. found the head of 2 bolts in the pan. the guy that built the motor said he torqued the bolts to 43ft/lbs.

Hybrid96EK

If they were ARP's then that wouldn't be the case. I've use ARP's many times torqued to ~40ftlbs and never had an issue to date.

JDogg

they were eagle rods with the cheap small bolts. cheap arp small bolts are supposed to be torqued to 28ft/lbs.. the big bolts get 43

Hybrid96EK

Hmm, I don't think I used those small ones then... Its been a while since I built an engine with ARP rod bolts.. but I recall 43ft lbs torque spec on the ones I used.

JDogg

eagle stopped using the small bolts probably 3-4 years ago