Forrest
06-12-2001, 05:23 PM
As many of you know, I recently found out that my so called "454" turned-out to be actualy a 396 cubic-inch engine built in 1967. After I tore it down, I found that it had some good performance stuff in it, but as it turn out - it was good performance stuff.
I took the forged-steel crank to the machine shop the other day to get it turned. Their crankshaft guru took a look at it and noted that there were two dots marked on it signifiying that it had already been cut to 0.020" under. It also had the letter "T" marked on it with a dot next to it indicating that the thrust area had been machined 0.020" as well. Next, we placed the crank into the V-blocks, put a dial indicator on the mains, and gave it a slow spin. The crank was bent 0.015", but could still be cut another 0.020" to correct this problem for a total of 0.040", but finding bearing that are +0.040" over with +0.020" on the thrust would be difficult - but somehow, I located a set. Today, just for grins, we looked-up the part number of the bearing shell that I removed from this engine. What we found was that the bearing is +0.020" over on the block side as well as the crank side, but it was standard on the thrust side. So now, it looks like my block was line-bored to an over-size on top of everything else that had been done to this engine in the past. We also noted all of the slop between the thrust surfaces since these were not the correct bearings for this engine. Now it's getting to the point where I either try to find this impossible-to-get main bearing set, or junk the engine. Well, to make the decision much easier, I just got a call from the machine shop informing me that there is a crack in the crankshaft. Oh well, it's a no-brainer now.
Anyone have a good Gen IV 454 short block or complete engine for sale? The basic 330 hp version with peanut-port heads will be fine. I still have my new Crane H-278-2 cam, big oval-port heads, Holley intake, and Hardin P-1000 exhaust.
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Forrest
The 1979 Hornet II is now for sale (http://www.donzi.net/ubb/Forum3/HTML/000149.html) since I will not have enough time to continue on with this project.
[This message has been edited by Forrest (edited 06-12-2001).]
I took the forged-steel crank to the machine shop the other day to get it turned. Their crankshaft guru took a look at it and noted that there were two dots marked on it signifiying that it had already been cut to 0.020" under. It also had the letter "T" marked on it with a dot next to it indicating that the thrust area had been machined 0.020" as well. Next, we placed the crank into the V-blocks, put a dial indicator on the mains, and gave it a slow spin. The crank was bent 0.015", but could still be cut another 0.020" to correct this problem for a total of 0.040", but finding bearing that are +0.040" over with +0.020" on the thrust would be difficult - but somehow, I located a set. Today, just for grins, we looked-up the part number of the bearing shell that I removed from this engine. What we found was that the bearing is +0.020" over on the block side as well as the crank side, but it was standard on the thrust side. So now, it looks like my block was line-bored to an over-size on top of everything else that had been done to this engine in the past. We also noted all of the slop between the thrust surfaces since these were not the correct bearings for this engine. Now it's getting to the point where I either try to find this impossible-to-get main bearing set, or junk the engine. Well, to make the decision much easier, I just got a call from the machine shop informing me that there is a crack in the crankshaft. Oh well, it's a no-brainer now.
Anyone have a good Gen IV 454 short block or complete engine for sale? The basic 330 hp version with peanut-port heads will be fine. I still have my new Crane H-278-2 cam, big oval-port heads, Holley intake, and Hardin P-1000 exhaust.
------------------
Forrest
The 1979 Hornet II is now for sale (http://www.donzi.net/ubb/Forum3/HTML/000149.html) since I will not have enough time to continue on with this project.
[This message has been edited by Forrest (edited 06-12-2001).]