2.0 Shortblock is tight!!!!

[rcarrier]

Hey, just bought a 4g63 shortblock, rebuilt new everything, but the engine is real tight, it takes a lot of torque to turn the motor over, with no head on it, I have talked to several people to see if this is normal, they tell me that the bearing's have to seat with the crank,I guess my question is, how tight should the motor be ?I hate to install this thing and have trouble down the road, or initial startup, so any help on this would be appreciated! Thks in advance!

 

[pickens]

I just got my shortblock back from the shop yesterday. It turns pretty easily. I just pop my 1/2 drive in the crank sprocket and gently apply torque. At each TDC you'll feel some resistance even without the head on. My engine feels silky smooth and solid when I turn it over now. I love it. Can't wait to start the bad boy

 

[burldude]

It should not be tight . You should be able to turn it over freely with a 1/2 inch drive no problem just like rcarrier said. You must have a con bearing or crank bearing binding . You can pull the caps one by one on the mains till you find out which one is binding then if is not them you go to the con rods. If you find the problem bearing you can sand it lightly with 400 then 1200 grit sand paper making sure to sand the whole "bearing surface" sand the bearing not the crank. Plasitgauge it as you go to make sure you dont take to much off . I have done many motors this way and a alot of drag racers prep there bearings this way also . They will seat when it fires up but from what you say it is grabbing way to much . DId they use assembly lube ?

 

[rcarrier]

Yes , they did use lube on the motor, and i pulled the main caps , and there is a little wear on the bearing toward's the top of the bearing!

 

[bastarddsm]

maybee if it dosn't feel right u should take it back to the people you bought it from. and get one that feels right. depending on what asssembly lube they used it is probably gonna take a lot of force to break it free then it should loosen up as u turn it. and once you stop it will stat over again.

 

[rcarrier]

Ok i lubed the bearings, re-torqued all the bolts,and it is tight at first, then breaks free,but once you stop turning it, it gets tight again, so i have to break it loose again, but it spins freely after i break it loose.So you guys think im ok?

 

[peregrine]

have you plastigauged it? if not do it. its worth the peace of mind. it should spin freely until the compression stoke then be resistant for a bit.

 

[rcarrier]

Getting ready to do that right now, i will see how it goes!
Also does anyone know where i can find torque settings, i have them on con. rods and mains, but need them on everything else.

 

[RuBiCaNT5X]

One thing to mention, if the rods were not reassembled with their same rod caps (i.e. they were mismatched), then the crank is not going to be able to spin or will be very hard to spin.

 

[rcarrier]

They were all marked, so i am assuming that they are, but have no real way to know!

 

[bastarddsm]

did you lube it with assembly lube? that stuff is very sticky and it is suposed to be like that.

 

[rcarrier]

Yes i did, was kinda thinking about that myself.

 

[autronicDSM]

Assembly lube doesn't make it "sticky". Sounds like they messed up your line hone. It happened to my friend's V8. He started to put on main caps and after 3rd one crank stopped turning. He took it off and it spun again. It happened to me too but it was much uglier.

 

[1fast97gsx]

assembly lube does not make it sticky. Sounds like hte line hone is screwed up or a rob cap is not on the right rod. Was the crank machined? Maybe the bearings are the wrong size. Also just from spinning it a few turns in the stand a bearing should not show wear. Something is wrong so don't continue to put the engine together.

 

[TD05HTalon]

if the engine feels tight and then moves, then gets tight again it's because the crank journal bores aren't round. I had this problem and had to get the block line bored to fix it. now it turns really freely and smooth - no binding.

 

[leakyfaucet]

It's possible you have too large of rings that were filed to fit the bore, but still have too much pressure. I've heard of this happening before.

 

[awddsm95]

hear is the heads up. if it is a fresh rebuild (never been fired) then it dosent matter if it is tight, as long as thats all it is, tight. If u cant turn it with the crank pulley, that dosent mean anything, it took 2 of us to turn over my sb chevy, one on the crank pulley, and one on the fly wheel. If it turns, ur good, the first 20 seconds - 1min will seat the crank in there real nice, and ur off.

 

[awddsm95]

also with the piston rings as well, they will seat in the cylinders in the first 20 seconds, its alot of friction.
P.S.
if your out of round, ect. ect., then what i dosent typically apply

 

[1fast97gsx]

hear is the heads up. if it is a fresh rebuild (never been fired) then it dosent matter if it is tight, as long as thats all it is, tight. If u cant turn it with the crank pulley, that dosent mean anything, it took 2 of us to turn over my sb chevy, one on the crank pulley, and one on the fly wheel. If it turns, ur good, the first 20 seconds - 1min will seat the crank in there real nice, and ur off.

uh no ... it might fix itself temporarily but a properly spinning rebuilt motor will last a LOT longer. Something is wrong.

 

[98TsiAWD]

It should not be tight . You should be able to turn it over freely with a 1/2 inch drive no problem just like rcarrier said. You must have a con bearing or crank bearing binding . You can pull the caps one by one on the mains till you find out which one is binding then if is not them you go to the con rods. If you find the problem bearing you can sand it lightly with 400 then 1200 grit sand paper making sure to sand the whole "bearing surface" sand the bearing not the crank. Plasitgauge it as you go to make sure you dont take to much off . I have done many motors this way and a alot of drag racers prep there bearings this way also . They will seat when it fires up but from what you say it is grabbing way to much . DId they use assembly lube ?

A scotchbrite pad would be better, less abrasive. You are working in such small increments that you dont want to take too much off. Also be sure you are "sanding" the backside of the bearings, not the side that rides on the crank.

 

[rcarrier]

The machine shop that done the work balanced the motor, line bored it, new pistons and rods,and all new bearings,you guys think i should take it back to them and have it checked, i called the shop that done the work , they say that the tightness is fine, that it will wear itself in, but if i want to i can bring it back and they will check it, the guy says it will run 9000+ rpm's all day, this is my first engine job, and it scares me, as you know its a lot of work changing engine's, also thks for all the input guys!

 

[half-cocked]

Is there any warranty or garuantee with it? I would ask for something. I just put together a short block and all main clearances plastigaged out at about .020" and all rod clearances came out to .010" and the engine spins freely with slight resistance whan the pistons go up and down but that is probably from the friction between the rings and cylinder wall.

 

[Maglin]

I'm with most the others here. All the motors I've built (V-8's mostly) spun with little work. I always torqued down the crank and spin it before I start putting the piston/rods in. I had one engine that didn't get line bored not want to trun with just the crank. I mic'd every bearing and journal and did some bearing swaping and ended up freeing it up. Not every bearing is exactly perfect and can be off by just a hair. And the same with the journals so you can put the slightly bigger bearings in the bigger holes to compensate. It's part of blueprinting a engine. I don't like plasti gauge but it works in a pinch. Plasti gauge every rod and main bearing and see how far off each rod and main bearings are from each other. If you see a bit of variance then take it back as either they didn't blueprint it like they said, or don't know how to in the first place.

 

[98TsiAWD]

Is there any warranty or garuantee with it? I would ask for something. I just put together a short block and all main clearances plastigaged out at about .020" and all rod clearances came out to .010" and the engine spins freely with slight resistance whan the pistons go up and down but that is probably from the friction between the rings and cylinder wall.

I would get that rod clearance to about .025", same with the mains.

 

[Defiant]

You can pull the caps one by one on the mains till you find out which one is binding then if is not them you go to the con rods. If you find the problem bearing you can sand it lightly with 400 then 1200 grit sand paper making sure to sand the whole "bearing surface" sand the bearing not the crank.

Do WHAT??!!???

Good god.