Bearing check
Posted by Bob E. On 2019/12/17 22:59:00
Since i had the steering mostly apart to send control valve to Rockauto/Lares, and was pulling the oil pan to try to stop the front/back leaks, I figured I would pull a few bearing caps to see what kind of wear I'm getting.
Recall that when I first put this engine together last Aug '18, I left a paper towel in the engine and it plugged up a lot of the oil pump inlet screen. Oil starvation had to have happened so at that time, I pulled each cap took some pictures,then blew air through etc to ensure no remnants.
As an example, here is a then/now picture of rod bearing cap #2. A few more scratches then before plus and signs of what I would consider contamination. Also some end wear/wipe at the edge of the bearing, which really surprised me.
The scratches across the width don't make sense so wondering if I some how did that while installing/removing the cap.
Also a picture of Main cap #3.
I also sent an oil sample to Blackstone (attached). One of their findings was contamination. To date, I have run all the time with the oil bath filter removed. Having the carb fully accessible has made tuning idle mixture, rpm, and choke so much easier. But now thinking that is where the dust/dirt is coming from that is causing this bearing wear.
Any other thoughts from this sample? It is the first one so will need to see what the trend will be.
Part of me thinks that I should take this opportunity to replace the rod and main bearings with the crank in place and start anew. Doesn't seem that hard from videos (even the manual talks about using a cotter pin to remove/install new main bearing) and at this point doubt the crank journals have had much wear to worry about.
Other part of me thinks I can do that at any time and should put it all together over the holidays so I can drive this thing and get some real miles on it to see how it performs.
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Recall that when I first put this engine together last Aug '18, I left a paper towel in the engine and it plugged up a lot of the oil pump inlet screen. Oil starvation had to have happened so at that time, I pulled each cap took some pictures,then blew air through etc to ensure no remnants.
As an example, here is a then/now picture of rod bearing cap #2. A few more scratches then before plus and signs of what I would consider contamination. Also some end wear/wipe at the edge of the bearing, which really surprised me.
The scratches across the width don't make sense so wondering if I some how did that while installing/removing the cap.
Also a picture of Main cap #3.
I also sent an oil sample to Blackstone (attached). One of their findings was contamination. To date, I have run all the time with the oil bath filter removed. Having the carb fully accessible has made tuning idle mixture, rpm, and choke so much easier. But now thinking that is where the dust/dirt is coming from that is causing this bearing wear.
Any other thoughts from this sample? It is the first one so will need to see what the trend will be.
Part of me thinks that I should take this opportunity to replace the rod and main bearings with the crank in place and start anew. Doesn't seem that hard from videos (even the manual talks about using a cotter pin to remove/install new main bearing) and at this point doubt the crank journals have had much wear to worry about.
Other part of me thinks I can do that at any time and should put it all together over the holidays so I can drive this thing and get some real miles on it to see how it performs.
Attach file:
(144.19 KB)
(153.63 KB)
(159.27 KB)
(182.66 KB)
Size: 17.93 KB; Hits: 94This Post was from: https://packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?post_id=217679