Just finished building my first motor and after running it for a little i decided to drop the pan to take a look around jut incase. noticed that the rods move slightly on the journal so i took the caps off and plastigauge them again and got a good reading. from what i have heard they are not supposed to move at all on the crank. by moving i dont mean side to side but actually perpendicular to the journal. any advice would help. thanks.

 

What did your plastigauge reading come out to? They should never move up and down ever. Sometimes side to side but thats very very very very minimal and thats pushing hard. What did you torque down the rod bolts to and was it dry or lubed torque too?

 

plastigauge read .0015 and i torqued them down to 40lbs since i am using eagle rods with the arp rod bolts. i think that there was still some oil on the journal and bearing when i did it. i think i might have gotten a false reading though with the plastigauge since the motor is in the car when i do it now and it makes things kind of difficult.

 

When the motors in the car itll give the same readings as if it was on an engine stand just harder to do since your upside down. Somethings really weird if your getting a big enough movement that youll notice it and your readings is right on. You sure its moving? I would PM ninesecrx (Mike Laskey) and show him this thread because thats pretty weird.

 

i think the readings are being thrown off. first time i used plastigauge and i think i might have done it wrong. either way i just purchased new bearings from honda instead of just running with acl std size. will plastigauge this time before starting the car.

 

bump

 

You would always have side movement of the rod end play, if not the rod would burn up and it would mess up the oiling. Sounds like you have good clearance at 1 and a half thou., I do not see what getting OEM bearings is going to do for you? BTW, Eagle rods are 43 pounds...

 

I f you keep running it then u r sure to spin a bearing! I would check my markings again on the block and head and make sure you purchased the right color coded bearings!

 

In for information/outcome. This is pretty interesting to me. I was also under the impression that the rods should not wiggle much at all in the situation you're talking about. But I really don't know much about the subject, so I'm hoping things get worked out in this thread and I can learn something useful at the same time.

Good luck to you man!

 

the first time i bought acl race series std size and after i took them off at 100 miles they look like they were about to spin so i caught them just in time. this time i bought the color coded bearings from honda so they match the stamps on the crank. should be putting them in some time today. will keep updated.

 

gave up trying to fix it with the motor in the car. going to pull motor and check everything. i think the crank might need to be replaced. will keep the thread updated.

 

turns out that rod #2 spun the bearing.....no clue how that happened. main bearings are shot also. i think that the motor was not getting the sufficent oil needed. crank is fried and i am pretty sure the oil pump as well. next move is uncertain. will keep posted