I am officially speechless and dont know what to think. I have put so much time and money into this facking car and for nothing. A little history with the car is I bought a motor off of a member here engine was supposedly only idled. Just to be on the safe side I had a local machine shop I thought to be good take it apart and check it all and re assemble. Long story short it walked in 200 miles. I took it back to him he blamed a mis adjusted clutch and said it was nothing they did wrong.When I asked him if it was line bored for the arp mains he said no it did not need it! So he told me he would help me out with labor but I would have to get my own parts. I brought new main bearings and had the crank fixed at a local shop known for fixing cranks in race engines. When I picked it up last week the asshole told me its gonna happen again if I dont fix whats wrong with my setup. I installed everything over the last week and got it running today.

I made sure my clutch pedal was adjusted correctly, I have a good 1" of free play at the top and clutch engaged good. It was still engaged a bit low on the floor but felt better than ever, as my flywheel had a step height way out of adjustment! I idled the car for about 10 minutes off and on getting a decent tune to go out and cruise. I got less than 1 mile from my house and when I pushed in the clutch it stalled. I instantly feared the worst, I went to turn around at the next intersection and it did the exact same thing stalled!! I got home and had my wife push the clutch in while I watched the crank pulley move A LOT!! So in 1 Facking mile my engine is junk again. I took a video of the play with a guage so you can see how bad it is. Crazy thing is I tested to see how far you push the clutch in before it starts pushing the pulley out and its probably only 30% of the pedal travel before it goes up to .18" and when you push the clutch all the way in it goes to .25".

I am just absolutely sick and just racking my brain to think of what I could have done to ruin this engine again in such a short time. I feel like that machine shop has done me a huge injustice and I am just screwed. At this point if I even decide to keep this pile I am gonna have to part ways with this block and crank as I just cant trust it now!! Any input would be greatly appreciated, sorry for the huge novel I just needed to get all the info in there and its a bit of a vent session. So much for any 10 second passes this year!!

[ame=http://youtu.be/pQJDhFNmzCk]DSM 6 bolt crankwalk - YouTube[/ame]

I am sure 1" of free play is way too much at the top of the pedal. When you typed .25" I was like WHOA! I read around .025" on the dial. Good luck and sorry I couldn't add anything of value.

I did not actually measure it, may be 1/2" but it feels perfectly normal! .025 my bad still way past what it should be and after 1 mile!

Looks like the thrust was not seated properly.

Yeah more like .025"+ which is pretty high. I seen a max of .009" that still runs fine but you got way too much.

There is a possibility that the crank was turned once or the crank thrust surface is too scared. You don't need to align hone the main with arp main studs if the bore started out straight.

I got butt rape years ago by a guy that sold me a built 6 bolts with the mismatched thrust bearing cap. A machine shop did it so I did not car to take it apart to inspect it. I could not believe it when it crank walk on me. Mitsubishi made the main cap sits tightly between the recess in each main journal. If it does not fit tightly, toss the block or have it machine to fit tightly. Do no use the MachV dowels. That is a waste of time and money. It will misalign your main and does nothing to stabilize the main cap. The Kiggly main girdles are a better choice. You don't need to align hone with the Kiggly girdles if the mains are true.

This is a horror story man, since the first thread you made the first time. I don't what could be causing it to walk so fast, only thing that pops in my mid is the crank itself is the same one, from what I've read once they crankwalk there is basically no fixing the crank. Good luck man.

Seriously a nightmare. Hopefully somebody has an idea what the hell is going on.

First things first, make a report to the automotive bureau. At least then you will have something on record to begin the process if you can prove the machine shop at fault.

Secondly don't take it back to them a third time.

Can you explain how you have been adjusting your clutch, your bleeder valve should be nearly closed, but not fully.

If it's not the thrust bearing it must be the clutch. But even if it is the clutch there is no way it would kill your crank in 1 mile! PLease if you build a third motor take the time to measure all clearances yourself. It is not very difficult and will only take a day or. Get your hands on a micrometer, digital caliber and plasti gauge.

Then once you have all the measurements post them up here so you can be certain there is no flaws with the engine itself.

If I lived in Utah I'd come take a look with you, but I'm not even in the same country. Man I wish you better luck!

But even if it is the clutch there is no way it would kill your crank in 1 mile!

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This. I don't think it's physically possible to "create" that much play from nothing in so short a time. Most of the play must have existed from the start or else there was a massive amount of metal-to-metal contact from the get go.

First off what was done to the crank. Was the thrust surface just re cut, or was it welded and cut to stock spec. I would guess that they did the first one. This would mean that you would need a thicker thrust bearing. If you just stuck it in there with standard bearings than you are going to be out of spec from the get go. I will tell you that your clutch has nothing to do with this problem. It is either assembly, or wrong clearances. I don't see this as an oil starvation problem because the thrust isn't being spun on the crank.

The crank was welded and then cut back down, he told me to buy .025" main bearings! Never going back there! At this point I feel this crank and block need to hit the trash can!

Did that machine shop give you measured clearance specs. Whenever anyone assembles a motor they measure it all, and should keep record of it. So providing you this information is a must, that way you are able to cross reference the measurements yourself.

No I received nothing!!

Oversized bearings are sold in .010" increment for dsm. You start out at .010" and usually go to a max of .020" oversize. You can get .030" and .040" but I would never got that deep into the crank. I don't know where the guy get .025" oversize from. Some x bearing has odd sizes and factory color bearings do too.

Best thing to do is to start with an uncut crank. Grinding crank is an art. Just because a guy has a crank grinder, does mean he can grind crank. Also grind and polishing the thrust surfaces are hard to do. Most shops not do have the right equipment to do it right.

killercolt said:

Oversized bearings are sold in .010" increment for dsm. You start out at .010" and usually go to a max of .020" oversize. You can get .030" and .040" but I would never got that deep into the crank. I don't know where the guy get .025" oversize from. Some x bearing has odd sizes and factory color bearings do too.

Best thing to do is to start with an uncut crank. Grinding crank is an art. Just because a guy has a crank grinder, does mean he can grind crank. Also grind and polishing the thrust surfaces are hard to do. Most shops not do have the right equipment to do it right.

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He probably meant .25mm which is ten .010 in. Some bearings for import cars are labeled with metric measurements.

Yeah my bad .25mm. I guess at this point the Block and crank are hitting the trash can!!

Very interested in tearing down and seeing what the hell happened. There was zero end play when we bolted everything up and put it in.

Did you or the machine shop assemble the block? After the crank was welded and recut during assembly what was thecrank end play? Was it checked? If they built it then did they give a build sheet showing clearances?


Looked back and from what your saying the machine shop built it. Take pictures of the thrust bearing with a date and time on the camera if possible. My bet is it will look like new. If it does then they probably just threw the thrust bearing in and never even checked clearance.
Sorry for your luck. I have similar problems with local shops because most are old school v8 shops and look at a 4 cyl like a strange mysterious bug that you throw together like a 3 hp lawnmower engine. Get all specs yourself, write them down very specific, give to the shop, talk with the guy doing the work, give the guy doing the work specs also, and double check everything they did. Rinse and repeat. Do not trust them to know what to do or you will get back parts they just plain ruin.

Hope Chris doesn't mind me talking for him, I helped with a lot of the build.
They assembled the bottom end, no charts or spec sheets. We didn't check the end play with a dial indicator but the crank DEFINITELY had no end play.

Well just from experience my bet is 90% shop assembly error. If it is an oiling issue there will be a bunch of metal in the oil with such a short run time. Did you guys check the oil? If the thrust actually walked which I doubt it would be burnt and loaded with metal. The end play is there but they probably had the caps misaligned. It showed itself when the pressure from the clutch was applied.

Check the oil for metal, already have video of the end play , drop pan take pics of thrust bearing, take pics with crank shoved back and forth on the thrust bearing, remove thrust bearing cap and take pics of both crank and bearing thrust surfaces. Post up and lets see.

Sounds good! I think we are tearing into the car this week and slapping in a 6 bolt . I'm sure the machine shop did something incorrectly, there was nothing we did that would cause this. The guy who runs the place is a total prick.

Got this turd out of the car and torn apart today. Here are a few pictures of the bearing. Most the bearings look ok its just the thrust bearing that looks nasty.











Not sure if you can tell anything from these pictures or not just thought I would share the tragedy. Sad thing is this was a new eagle crank also. Anybody want a 1200 dollar yard ornament?

The bearing looks wiped out from the pictures ive seen some bearing damage but that looks pretty nasty

File a Claim with the BAR like stated before, regardless of whether or not you win or lose you are not paying anything. You already pay money to this agency through your taxes and its their job. I had a machine shop try to Up quote me 900$ from the initial quote and void the warranty they first promised. BAR handled everything and honestly if it sounds like it does with your situation its the shop's fault. The machinist should know what size bearings to put on the engine simple as that.