Aligning Crank

[4GSixty3]

I was told by some friends that if you take the crank out, you have to align it so that the bearings will be seated right. I'm asking b/c I took the crank out of my block I picked up and I was thinking I could just throw it back in after I get it resurfaced with some new bearings. Is this true you need to get it like balanced or something?

 

[Mirage2LTurbo]

Tell us again why you are assembling your own motor?

 

[jott5555]

no you can just put it back in i believe make sure to get new undersized bearings and all that junk

 

[gsx951]

What you are hinting at is setting the thrust bearing and it is required on our motors.
You are best off not grinding your crank, it's really hard to restore radii at the journals and used good condition cranks can be had cheap. Are your journals damaged?

 

[4GSixty3]

I took the motor all apart because I'm replacing all seals, etc...Not to mention it is a n/t block and I'm swapping pistons, etc..The crank is is still good and probably will not require regrinding or anything. So the only thing that needs to be set is the thrust bearing? Other than that, I can just drop the crank right in? Thx alot gsx951.

 

[1fast97gsx]

do you have any idea how to align the thrust bearing at all? Do you have a shop manual? I just did it a few days ago and it's pretty simple. I just put all the caps on and finger tightened the mains. Then loosed the ones on the center cap just a tad and then took a huge mallet and gave the crank a hard blow from both sides to move it back and forth. I did this a few times. Then tighten down the mains.

 

[4GSixty3]

Does this apply with a 90 also? Like hitting the center cap to align? Thx.

Hitting the ends of crank to align, not center bolt*

 

[1fast97gsx]

you don't hit the center cap ... you hit the crank itself. Do you know what endplay is and how it is measured? Endplay is how far you can move the crank in and out ( towards the flywheel and crank pulley ). The sides of the thrust bearing will make contact with the crank when the crank is pushed in either direction. This way forcing the crank back and forth both ways with push the thrust bearing cap towards the left and right until it lines up with the upper thrust bearing that rests in the block. Yes this is how it is done on a 90 block!

 

[4GSixty3]

Thx alot 1fast97gsx!!! I wasn't sure how to align the crank or what aligning meant when I first posted this but now I know how seeing as what you wrote made alot of sense to me. I meant to put edit next to my last post and say crank ends not cap. Thx alot man.

 

[1fast97gsx]

no problem man .. let me know if you have any more questions!

 

[4GSixty3]

Well 50 miles on the motor and it's running good except for a few problems.

 

[1fast97gsx]

congrats ... what problems are you having?

 

[4GSixty3]

Haha, funny you should ask. I have another post on my problem but I will go ahead and tell you and you can judge for yourself. Saturday night is the night I got my car running. Drove it fine for probably 50 miles, nothing wrong at all. Next thing I know, I'm blowing smoke out from the back of my exhaust and I mean ALOT. Pull over and check things out and come to the conclusion that my turbo fell apart on me (nut that holds compressor wheel on backed off 0) and park my car in a parking lot for the night b/c it smokes too bad. Monday night comes along and I bring another turbo with me and put it on. Well, I start the car and it's fine for a little bit. After 10 minutes, the damn thing shuts off on me and is a bi*** to start. Meanwhile, I see smoke coming from what looks like power steering pump but as I found out later, my water line came out of my pump while doing the turbo swap and all my coolant has leaked out. Drive it up the road and my temp starts spiking in the red. About 10 seconds later, I find a spot to pull over and see whats going on. This is where I noticed the water leaking from the pump/pipe connection. Fix that and try and start the car and it won't start. Get a compression tester and the readings are as follows from #4 -#1, 130,90,87,80. Finally I get the bi*** to crank over and start so I figure I'll make the 7 mile trip to my house with water in the lines for now. I get about 3 miles away and next thing ya know, my alternator belt snapped off and the temp started rising just a tad bit so I pulled over and shut the car off and that is where it has been since yesterday. I think I warped my head since the temp spiked that high and it kinda makes sense seeing as the numbers go from big to small. So what do you think? Sorry it's so long, I couldn't think of anything shorter to write.

 

[1fast97gsx]

ouch man sucks to hear. Well you need to do a leakdown test and figure out why the compression is so low.

 

[4GSixty3]

Well, I'm probably gonna go the other route and just throw another head on and see what that turns out to be like. I'll keep ya updated.

 

[EVIL X]

Well, I'm probably gonna go the other route and just throw another head on and see what that turns out to be like. I'll keep ya updated.

I dont think that is the best route to take. If your rings arnt seated, putting a different head on will do absolutly nothing. Do what 1fast told ya and do a leak down test.

 

[1fast97gsx]

yea man leakdown tests are almost as simple as a compression test. This will tell you what exactly your problem is. A warped head seems possible, however ALL of your compression numbers are very low so you need to figure out why that is first and then swap the head if that's all it is. Did you have your oil and coolant mixing?

 

[4GSixty3]

No coolant was mixing with oil, vice versa...I will try making a leakdown tester and try that first...thx guys

 

[half-cocked]

I would suggest also looking elsewhere for problems. The motor only has 50 miles on it and might not be fully broke in therefore the compression might raise some.

 

[4GSixty3]

Well, I had 130-40 across when I did my first compression test and the car ran great. After my first turbo blew up, I started having all these problems.