Okay, so I got my B18C1 from the machine shop today. I had the cylinders bored out to 81.5MM and a line bore check which came back good. However when I torque the main caps to spec the crank won't turn freely. I'm using new King bearings and already tried putting in my old (oem) ones, still does the same thing. Any thoughts?

 

Something is either not clearanced property or not perfectly straight. Id have a competent machinist or engine builder assemble the bottom now.

 

It almost sounds like either the line bore is jacked or the crank is jacked was it spinning prior to the line bore?

 

exactly what I was gonna say.

 

I have a spare ls crank which i know is good. I'll try test fitting is and see what happens. Are the ls and gsr main bearings the same?

 

Yes but you need to use a bore gauge and torque the mains on and check to see if they are round, then mic the crank, and then put the bearings in the block and use the bore gauge again and check your clearance. It should rotate freely. Probably out of round

 

4piston thanks for the reply. However I'm not trying to run the ls crank just trying to see if my current gsr crank is bad. I guess I'm gonna pop the ls crank with my current bearings and see if it spins freely. If it does guess I'll be looking for a new crank.

 

your current aftermarket bearings right? If theyre honda bearings I wouldn't do that. Usually the aftermarket bearings are close to the last two "loosest" bearings from Honda, depending on brand of aftermarket bearing. If you try to use the honda bearings, It still might be tight depending on what the crank is premeasured at. But 4piston's method is correct if you have the tooling to measure. But even if you still swap that crank in there, you still need to determine oil clearances before final assy. But you will have to have tooling to figure if bores and crank are round. Maybe take it to a machine shop to have it measured, and make sure they have tooling that can measure it.

 

Updated: I noticed that main Journal #2 is always black. First time I used assembly lube, and then used engine oil. Every time it was black. Any thoughts?


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Do you suppose the dark material is being wiped off of the bearings? How do the bearings themselves look?

 

Are you over torquing the main bolts?

 

mic crank, mic bearings, tq main caps and mic bores, do math, get oil clearances. if they are good then like mentioned above its ur crank or block. here do this.... tq one cap at a time and turn the crank afterwards to see which one(s) are causing the bind and go from there.


mike

 

Did u get new piston rings? If u did then , did u check to see if ur new rings have to b grinded down? Rings might be buttin up together.

 

That dark stuff looks like gunk that was stuck in the crank that is coming out the passage. I would torque to spec and check clearances with plastigage at least. You can't just throw bearings in there and hope the clearances will be correct. Are you using oem main bolts?

 

So I plastigaged the main bearings and the clearance was about 0015mm. Also if I just drop the crank in without any caps it still will turn harder then the ls block next to it with all the caps torqued down.

 

Get a new crankshaft

 

was it running before?

when fully assembled(crank rods and pistons installed) it should be 15-20 lbs of torque to turn the crank.

you not gonna be able to spin it freely with your fingers without crank pulley
the surface tension between bearings...
you also havent told us if you know what you re doing( not trying to be a dick)

but if you throw another crank in it the clearances are gonna be completely different unless both cranks and blocks were machined to exact specs to take aftermarket bearings.
each bearing surface is different on each crank for rods and mains.

as said on evans tuning.

start from bearing 1 and rotate the crank after each bearing installation. you will be able to tell if the last one you installed is too tight

 

0.0015mm or 0.0015"?

If it's mm then you have a huge problem. If not then they are within spec and I would try turning with the crank pulley on. You won't be able to turn with just your hand. Even try turning with a ratchet.

 

Its 0.0015" lol. Yes I know what i'm doing, I rebuilt it do to massive blow-by. Took it to a machine shop to get it bored out to 81.5mm I have a spare ls block sitting next to it which i'm using for comparison, before i thought it was the crank but then i tried the ls crank and it was the same. Any chance something happened when the machine shop was doing the bore that could cause this?

 

I don't see how it could do with the bore. Did you put the crank pulley on and try spinning it with that? Those clearances are fine and should allow you to turn the crank by hand with the pulley on.

 

My main clearances are between 0.0015-0.0017 and it turns like butter. What are your rod clearances?

 

This happened to me once. Put the damn main bearing caps on backwards! OOPS!

 

Main caps are on the right way, double and even triple checked lol. This is driving me insane, I just paid to get the block bored out and got new pistons and now this If i take the block and crank to the machine shop do you guys think then can pinpoint the problem?

 

With only the crank bolted in you absolutely should be able to spin it by hand, no need for a pulley or ratchet that's just plain dumb. Bring it back to the machine shop, crank and block.

If you really knew what you were doing you would try more stuff and diagnose this. Try taking the dark bearing out and see if it spins. That color indicates there is something binding and rubbing off staining the oil.

 

If he has 0.0015 clearance on that bearing I don't see how it could be bind because of that.