You're right.. tighter clearances for thinner oil to keep that system happy. But on the flip side.. not all had MDS, but kept the same spec. Lighter oil is also more efficient etc
Butters "Winter Upgrades". . Starting a Little Early
- Thread starter Dantra
- Start date
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Back to this.. I tried my new dial bore gauge last night. It's sensitive! 10 marks on it are equal to 1 mark on my other gauge. What I was coming up with was right around .0018.. maybe .0017. But I did compare every weapon of measurement that I have.. my .001 db gauge, .0001 db gauge, .002-.005 red plastige and the .001-.003 green plastigage. Really splitting hairs across the board. They're all close to each other but minute differences. Maddening! I have to trust the .0001 db gauge, since it's the most accurate. I've got a set of +.001 bearings hitting the door today and a set of 6.4 std hitting the door Saturday. I really hate that I can't use what came with the kit but it is what it is. Even if they were the right gap, they're still not the correct 2 hole 6.4 version. Even tho they'd probably be fine, my brain just would not accept it. I'll wait for the standards to hit, install them and check the gap. If they are still reading under .002, I'll have to do the split bearing and use the lower halves of the 1 over set. Right now, if used a 1 over with these readings, it would put me above 25. With a little luck (pfft) I wont need to open the 1 over set. So $300 later (not including the set I returned and awaiting credit, hoping to not get dinged for a restock fee)... I might get this thing buttoned up. Still have the daunting task of gapping rings. Rod bearings seem to be in spec.
DionR
Well-Known Member
And then a third break when the 58 tooth ring changed again.
The later sensor can't read the earlier 58 tooth ring, but the early 58 tooth sensor can read the later ring, so there is that advantage.
Yup.. teeth got taller around 12/13.
My new main bearings came in Saturday afternoon and I was able to resume putting this thing together. The MS2296Hs were fine, right outta the box. They actually came in a little better than the original set and I didn't need to do a split bearing. So the .001 set that came in a few days earlier can back and save me about 150 bucks. All of the main clearances came in at .0022 - .0023, which was within my target range.
Once I had the crank sat down in place, I moved on to spending more time on checking the rod bearings. Last weekend, I tossed a rod/bearing together and did some initial checking and thought I was going to be fine (over .002). As it turns out, I was a little light on my bolt stretch/torque, which has some effect on that... plus I forgot to lube my bolts, during that initial check. Add in the slight variations in journals and in the bearings and I'm actually under .002, coming in at .0017 -.018 on the few that I checked.. and plasitgauged one to verify readings. Such a fine line between feeling good about it and measuring everything repeatedly, trying to feel better. So, it looks like I'll be using split bearings here.. Once again, waiting on the next set of bearings to come.
I moved on to gapping the rings. I absolutely hate gapping rings.. the top ring mostly. I did set them at .028 because you just never know what's in the future. I'd rather be a little loose anyway.
After the rings, OCD was still in motion, so I went ahead and began scaling out the rod/piston combos. It's just something I've always wanted to do and I really don't know that it makes all that much difference. By finding lightest piston and pairing with heaviest rod yada yada, I was able to get down to a 1.59 gram difference between the heaviest assembly to the lightest.. including pin. Pins were really close.. 139-139.36. Worst case if I had just slapped it together and the lightest rod found the lightest piston, heaviest rod to heaviest piston, would have been a 4.34 gram difference between combos. Splitting hairs..
I did slip some rings onto #7 and OMG.. the expansion/oil rings can eat a bag of d!cks! Just downright maddening. Popped it into the bore for the plastigauge check and then one more block clearance check. I'll pop it back out when the new bearings get here.
I'm off next week, so I should be able to wrap the shortblock up. Heads are in the shop getting some pac springs and freshened up.. probably another week or two. The ship date for the Mellings oil pump keeps getting pushed out.. 2/7/25. I may just cancel it and go back to the Hellcat pump.
Once I had the crank sat down in place, I moved on to spending more time on checking the rod bearings. Last weekend, I tossed a rod/bearing together and did some initial checking and thought I was going to be fine (over .002). As it turns out, I was a little light on my bolt stretch/torque, which has some effect on that... plus I forgot to lube my bolts, during that initial check. Add in the slight variations in journals and in the bearings and I'm actually under .002, coming in at .0017 -.018 on the few that I checked.. and plasitgauged one to verify readings. Such a fine line between feeling good about it and measuring everything repeatedly, trying to feel better. So, it looks like I'll be using split bearings here.. Once again, waiting on the next set of bearings to come.
I moved on to gapping the rings. I absolutely hate gapping rings.. the top ring mostly. I did set them at .028 because you just never know what's in the future. I'd rather be a little loose anyway.
After the rings, OCD was still in motion, so I went ahead and began scaling out the rod/piston combos. It's just something I've always wanted to do and I really don't know that it makes all that much difference. By finding lightest piston and pairing with heaviest rod yada yada, I was able to get down to a 1.59 gram difference between the heaviest assembly to the lightest.. including pin. Pins were really close.. 139-139.36. Worst case if I had just slapped it together and the lightest rod found the lightest piston, heaviest rod to heaviest piston, would have been a 4.34 gram difference between combos. Splitting hairs..
I did slip some rings onto #7 and OMG.. the expansion/oil rings can eat a bag of d!cks! Just downright maddening. Popped it into the bore for the plastigauge check and then one more block clearance check. I'll pop it back out when the new bearings get here.
I'm off next week, so I should be able to wrap the shortblock up. Heads are in the shop getting some pac springs and freshened up.. probably another week or two. The ship date for the Mellings oil pump keeps getting pushed out.. 2/7/25. I may just cancel it and go back to the Hellcat pump.
racerjoe
Well-Known Member
Love the attention to detail Dan. This thing is going to be a monster! I didn't mic anything on my 5.7. I put it back the way I found it. If it was good enough for the chrysler assembly line, its good enough for me....lol
I really enjoy it and hate it at the same time. There's alot of details to this one and if I hadn't really dug in and did a ton of homework, I might have overlooked some pretty important steps.. If you look at the rod, you'll see that the journal bore is chamfered. That's only on one side of the rod and it needs to face the counterweight. Also, the pistons are labeled D and S, which is a small blurry stamp on the bottom off the piston (valve relief). Obvious if you look at the piston tho. So they are directional and there is a left and a right. With the 2 of those details combined, you really have to pay attention to how you assemble the piston/rod sets. Something else these pistons have is the lower oil ring support because the piston pin actually passes through the lower rail. just something I've not dealt with before. Easy enough tho.
So many details and when all of them are combined.. The deep clean, slug assemblies, ring gaps, rod/main clearance, mixing bearings, rod bolt stretch and then questioning every detail repeatedly, even at times feeling like you need to take it apart and check it all over again... Dion can relate with these thoughts, I'm sure.
It's definitely not something that a guy is gonna toss together in a day or maybe even a weekend. I've had a few delays, waiting on parts but I've got plenty of time. The 5.7 in Hoopty went together much like yours. Everything looked great and it all just went together.. Bada bing, bada boom.
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DionR
Well-Known Member
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