this is the first time i have done a crank job.... so just a lil paranoid....
i was just wondering if all the new bearings are the same, or if there is some special pattern they need to be installed in...
I have the clevite 77 bearings..... and the rod bearings all come boxed in sets... one big box, and 4 lil boxes inside.. in each lil box is a bearing, a cardboard seperator, and another bearing.... are all the bearings the same? or is one specifically for the top and the other the bottom? do certain sets need to go in certain rods? is there a certain orientation of the bearings? or do they only fit one way?
The main bearings come packaged in a box containing 2 sets in plastic shrink wrap, and looks like each shrink wrap set is one "side" of the bearing... (there are 4 normal bearing halves and 1 half a thrust bearing in each plastic wrapped set...) so again are these identicle? or is one set specifically for the top and the other for the bottom?
I have both the haynes guide and an "engine blueprinters manual" here in front of me.... and they both very generically say "put the bearings in place and plastigauge them" but dont specify what "in place" means...
also, the haynes guide has warnings all over about "dont touch the bearings with your fingers as oils and acids can etch the bearings" but no where does the engine blueprinting manual even hint at this.... so is this just a rare thing with oem 2.4L bearings that they have some un-touchable coating? or should i wear medical gloves or something when installing my clevites?
I am proabaly being way to anal about this.... but it is only the most important part of my engine i just sunk a few grand into... I am guessing that all the bearings are exactly the same, and how they go in is obvious (notches only fit one way) but i just wanted to ask.
again if you sunk a few grand into this, why not trust the professionals to do it. how much is that motor and your car worth to you? worth taking the chance making a mistake and having to spend a few thousand again? id reccommend taking it to a machine shop if its not too late... just my .02
i had it in a machine shop.... one that came highly recomended to me for their "quality of work" i brought them my block and heads for hot tanking/cleaning and to make sure the head gasket surfaces were true.
when i went in to check on the engine i found heavy rust all over the block... and all my valvetrain component in a box mixed together...
in case you dont know.... when you dis-assmble a head you are supposed to seperate and label all the parts so you can re-assemble them back together the way they came apart. not just throw them in a box together.
and hot tanking is supposed to eat everything but steel... paint, rust, oils, etc.... when a block comes out of a hot tank it SHOULD NOT have areas still caked with heavy rust. and try to cover it up with spray paint.
after seeing all this... i lost all respect for professionalism of machine shops. sorry my 5 year old nephew could have done a better job than they did... so i am going to do this myself so i KNOW it is right. not to mention they charged me $380 for a cleaning and milling.... and didnt do a good job of either. so i can just imagine what a GREAT job they would do at assembling my engine. no thanks.
so i appreciate the advice but at the moment i would rather have the answer to my questions than "i told you so's"
I am sorry if you dont feel confident enough to do your own work... but most of the guys doing the work at machine shops are high school students at best.... (if they even graduated from highschool) yeah maybe the owner of the shop is a seasoned professional... but something tells me he isnt going to be the one tending to my cavalier engine work...
so i think i am going to try this one on my own. and i am SURE i can do a better job of it than this shop (and most if this one is any indicator)
Its been a while since i rebuilt an engine. But as far as i remember that as long as the tabs on the brearings fit in the slots on the rods you should be fine. I would wear a pair of gloves just to be safe. Plus its easier to wash up.
ok well i found out my own answer....
as far as the main bearings go.... they are differernt.
once i got working on it and cracked open the package i saw for myself
they plastic wrap them in 2 sets... upper and lower.
the uppers all have an oil port and an oil groove. The lowers are just flat and smooth.
and the notches are different to so you couldnt screw it up unless you were a big dummy.
the rod bearings appear to be identicle and interchangable. even the codes stamped on them are the same from.
(i think they package them in rod sets (2 bearings per box) because they are designed to be sold individually. kinda like spark plugs. you buy them in packs of 4, but in the box of 4 you have 4 individual boxes.)
Some of you people make all of this out to be SOOOO hard. It is a car... this isnt brain surgery. I find that i doubt myself ALOT... and once i get in and do something, it is never anywhere near as hard as i thought it would be.
I think I am hard on myself and doubt my own skills... but man i feel sorry for you doubters, you make me feel like einstein.
everyone told me "nooooo dont change your own head gasket... you can screw it up and ruin the whole engine..." i did it anyway. it was cake... i could do heads in my sleep now.
everyone told me "noooo dont assemble your bottom end, you can screw it up" and here i am doing it, and it is like building with legos... i mean come on... how much of an idiot do you need to be to screw this stuff up?
yeah, if i was some 16 year old kid and all my tools came in a gift set from JCPenny, and my greatest automotive achievment was taking my car to lubestop.... then yes... i can see the hesitation.
but this site is here to help people become more, and do more with what they have... why does everyone have to be saying all this crap about "it cant be done" "not worth doing" "dont even think about doing it yourself" "leave that to the pros"
if all this is the case..... we might as well wipe jbo off the internet... because last i checked those very things are the EXACT reasons this board exists. how many shops would laugh at us for building up a chevy 4 cylinder... most "professionals" are going to say "get yourself a real car... lets build you a chevy 350" but we are the ones who come her to go against the grain. who want to do what we want to do and are willing to give up our own blood sweat and tears to do it.
(this doesnt apply to all you punks who just take the car daddy bought you, and bring it to the shop hand them daddys credit card and say "make this fast and pimpin")
ken soggs wrote:
everyone told me "nooooo dont change your own head gasket... you can screw it up and ruin the whole engine..." i did it anyway. it was cake... i could do heads in my sleep now.
everyone told me "noooo dont assemble your bottom end, you can screw it up" and here i am doing it, and it is like building with legos... i mean come on... how much of an idiot do you need to be to screw this stuff up?
yeah, if i was some 16 year old kid and all my tools came in a gift set from JCPenny, and my greatest automotive achievment was taking my car to lubestop.... then yes... i can see the hesitation.
but this site is here to help people become more, and do more with what they have... why does everyone have to be saying all this crap about "it cant be done" "not worth doing" "dont even think about doing it yourself" "leave that to the pros"
Society as a whole has become dependent on taking their car to the shop or stealership for something as simple as a oil change. Really don't see people working on their cars like you did 20+ years ago. I've seen my dad overhaul a motor with the block in the car. Pulled the heads, pushed up the pistons to re-ring and replace rod bearings, and rolled the mains in with the crank in. Now granted this isn't the best, but if you would have seen the junkers he drove.......... He'd adjust valves with the car running and a feeler gauge like it was second nature. I'd hate to see it if people had to drive cars with points again with a set in the glove box just in case they had to change them on the side of the road.
I put my first car in the shop to replace a starter. After the straight mauling to my wallet I decided to never put a car in the shop again, and so far I haven't. To date I've done two clutches, three head gaskets, and two motor swaps in addition to what I consider to be general car repair like timing belts, rack and pinions, and suspension.
Good luck with the rebuild
ohvrolla wrote:ken soggs wrote:
everyone told me "nooooo dont change your own head gasket... you can screw it up and ruin the whole engine..." i did it anyway. it was cake... i could do heads in my sleep now.
everyone told me "noooo dont assemble your bottom end, you can screw it up" and here i am doing it, and it is like building with legos... i mean come on... how much of an idiot do you need to be to screw this stuff up?
yeah, if i was some 16 year old kid and all my tools came in a gift set from JCPenny, and my greatest automotive achievment was taking my car to lubestop.... then yes... i can see the hesitation.
but this site is here to help people become more, and do more with what they have... why does everyone have to be saying all this crap about "it cant be done" "not worth doing" "dont even think about doing it yourself" "leave that to the pros"
Society as a whole has become dependent on taking their car to the shop or stealership for something as simple as a oil change. Really don't see people working on their cars like you did 20+ years ago. I've seen my dad overhaul a motor with the block in the car. Pulled the heads, pushed up the pistons to re-ring and replace rod bearings, and rolled the mains in with the crank in. Now granted this isn't the best, but if you would have seen the junkers he drove.......... He'd adjust valves with the car running and a feeler gauge like it was second nature. I'd hate to see it if people had to drive cars with points again with a set in the glove box just in case they had to change them on the side of the road.
I put my first car in the shop to replace a starter. After the straight mauling to my wallet I decided to never put a car in the shop again, and so far I haven't. To date I've done two clutches, three head gaskets, and two motor swaps in addition to what I consider to be general car repair like timing belts, rack and pinions, and suspension.
Good luck with the rebuild
Agreed. My driveway > garage/dealership
ken soggs wrote:the uppers all have an oil port and an oil groove. The lowers are just flat and smooth.
As soon as i read that, i smacked myself in the head. I knew i forgot something.
I understaind whats up with all your posts, you dont want to @!#$ anything up. Its completely understaindable.
