I just droped in a used motor I bought and I'm getting an oil light after the car warms up. I'm checking the clearance in the main and rod bearing but I'm having some problems I think.
Every rod and main caps #'s 2,3 and 4 are all coming out .003". I didn't check # 1 and 5 mains yet. I'm not sure what I could be doing wrong. I cut a piece of plastigauge put it in the center of the bearing and torque it down then pull the cap off and read it. I'm using the green .001-.003 plastigauge.
I have the following rod bearing installed.
#1- Green
#2-brown
#3-brown
#4-couldn't tell
letters on the crank starting at the pulley. C C C B
Mains
#2-yellow
#3-black
#4-green
#'S On the crank starting at the pulley 3 2 4 3
Letters on the block starting at the flywheel. B B C B B
I have Eagle rods and Arp rod bolts. The #1 and #4 rod bolt were torqued down to 33 ft lbs when I first got the motor but were torqued to 28 when I did the gauging.
I'm told I need to replace the 2 set of rod bolts that where over torqued because of stretching but could this affect the clearance measurement?

 

if i remember correctly all eagle rods r #3 rod bearings, then get thickness based on stock crank #s. if it wasnt for the fact that its nightime and im naked, id go get my service manual to help ya out. but it will have to wait till tomorrow.

 

.003 sounds too loose for good oil pressure. .0015 to .0017 should be the area you are looking for. Perhaps it's time for a new set of bearings. Also check the oil pump to see if it is worn out. Problem could be there also.

 

get a set of ACL bearings from Earl or Rocket (both on this board). Standard sizes too.

 

It seems strange that all the clearances where all .003 that I measured plus the motor was just rebuilt not long before I bought it. Also the #3 main bearing is already black and thats the largest bearing thats listed for that journal letter.
I could understand rods 1 and 4 being out of spec because of the bolts being stretched but not the rest of them.
I going to mic the crank and see what I get but I don't have any way to measure the rods. Does anyone know what the spec is for eagle rods and what the thickness is for each color of rod bearing?
Is there any way to tell if I really did stretch the rod bolt?
No need to run around naked in the middle of the night. I won't get to this until Saturday night. But I appreciate the thought.

 

A black bearing is not a good sign. It's black because it got really hot. Probably from lack of lubrication. That crank journal is probably chewed up too. Was the engine knocking?

 

Sorry I ment it had a black color code. The bearing it self is normal color and wear.

 

Sorry, I misread your post.