Project Black Stallion

tjsea

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Here are the top main shells and the worst of the rod bearings. I'm not to concerned about the rod bearings, the wear really is minimal. The mains and the odd pattern are what I'm puzzled by. Especially since I had it line bored.
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Booyah45828

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If you had the mains line honed, something is amiss with those wear marks. The only way that I know to check a line hone job is to hit it with a quick pass from the hone again and see where it removes material.

As far as the rod bearings are concerned, it looks to me like an oil pressure issue. Or your clearance on those is too large with too thin of oil.

If this was a fresh rebuild, I'm curious if you prelubed the system before initial start up? Not doing so could explain the marks on the rod bearings.
 

tjsea

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If you had the mains line honed, something is amiss with those wear marks. The only way that I know to check a line hone job is to hit it with a quick pass from the hone again and see where it removes material.

As far as the rod bearings are concerned, it looks to me like an oil pressure issue. Or your clearance on those is too large with too thin of oil.

If this was a fresh rebuild, I'm curious if you prelubed the system before initial start up? Not doing so could explain the marks on the rod bearings.
I'm probally going to have that checked. I had assembly lubed everything. Usually on a gas motor we prelube it by spinning the oil pump drive, but can't do that on an IDI. I've always run 15w40 oil and it had great oil pressure with my mechanical gauge.

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Booyah45828

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I'm probally going to have that checked. I had assembly lubed everything. Usually on a gas motor we prelube it by spinning the oil pump drive, but can't do that on an IDI. I've always run 15w40 oil and it had great oil pressure with my mechanical gauge.

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I only assemble engines with motor oil. I'm not really a fan of grease/assembly lube because most seem to be too thick. And if you don't have a pressure luber, you should crank it with the plugs removed until you have oil pressure. That's a tip another engine builder gave me for when you can't prime a system with any other method.

I think high compression coupled with grease on the bearings and a dry oil system is what likely caused those marks.

Also, make sure the oil passages in the crank are chamfered/deburred. There seems to be an odd wear mark on the bearings were those would be at too.
 

Agnem

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This reminds me a bit of Ezekiel's truck. It had a weird shake at idle that a bunch of us tried like crazy to fix at the 2007 IDI Weekend. Never did figure out what it was, and it was a brand new Jasper reman he had in there. Hope all this effort bears fruit!
 

Garbage_Mechan

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I had the piston protrusion been checked? I would have checked it before tear down because now it is hard to look for a “short” rod.

Another long shot.....way in my distant memory I recall someone having an issue like this that was a poorly balanced camshaft gear. Was that replaced with aftermarket? I believe the original poster on the cam gear was Mel (AGNEM).
 

snicklas

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I had the piston protrusion been checked? I would have checked it before tear down because now it is hard to look for a “short” rod.

Another long shot.....way in my distant memory I recall someone having an issue like this that was a poorly balanced camshaft gear. Was that replaced with aftermarket? I believe the original poster on the cam gear was Mel (AGNEM).

I believe it was Gary @icanfixall that has posted specifics about the cam gear balance issue.
 

tjsea

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So I know it's been a while, but I wanted to give an update. After I disassembled everything I took all the parts to the machine shop. After he went through some checks he found 2 issues. First, that my manual I was using had the wrong main cap torque spec listed. Any other IDI manual as well as any of the specs available to him show that the main bearing torque should be 95 lbft. The manual I followed during assembly had 95 lbft plus an additional 95 degrees listed. We believe this additional torque was deforming the main bores and giving the odd bearing wear. To correct this he redid the line bore at 95 lbft and that will be the spec I use on assembly. Now that still didn't explain my shake I was having. He didn't believe it was a balance issue because he said if it was it usually leaves "stripes" on the rod bearings as well. He did respin the rotating assembly to verify it was ok though and it was very close and within what he normally aims for in street motors he builds. He did hone it in even a little closer though.
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What he did fine and believes to be my shake was a leaking intake and exhaust valve. Keep in mind he didn't go through the heads previously because I had bought these already done elsewhere. He double checked the heads and fixed the valves that weren't sealing for me. So that brings me to where I'm at with it now. I've been slowly plugging away with assembling and checking everything twice. I reinstalled the crank and checked clearances with STD bearings. Clearance ranges from .0025in to .003in. I was hoping to be a little on the tighter side but they are within the spec .0011-.0038in. I've been slowly installing the piston and rod assemblies too.
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Initially I used STD bearings here too, but I was at the high end of the spec at .0035in. Spec is .0011-.0038in for rod bearings as well. After talking with @typ4 he had some old stock .001 undersize bearings that he sold me. So far I've got 6 of the 8 pistons in and they brought my rod bearing clearances down to .0015-.002in right where they should be. If anyone is rebuilding an engine I highly recommend you get ahold of him and get a set for yourself especially if the crank has been polished!
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So this brings me to a few things that have been running through my brain lately. First, I modified my intake by cutting it down to make turbo removal, installation, and just plain turbo clearance better. Since I've done this it got me to thinking about coating the intake. Is it worthwhile? Normally we just bead blast them and clearcoat them, but the spray bomb clear doesn't always hold up the best to oil and fuel. Anyone else have any better options that won't break the bank? Also I've been thinking about changing my crankcase venting. Right now I'm running a road draft tube, but it's annoying to have the smoke drifting out from under my truck at red lights. I've been looking at my options here too. I found the Donaldson Spiracle systems that look promising. Anyone else have any suggestions?

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chillman88

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Normally we just bead blast them and clearcoat them, but the spray bomb clear doesn't always hold up the best to oil and fuel. Anyone else have any better options that won't break the bank?

What about some kind of baked on enamel or a clear powder coating? I saw Jason has a home setup at his place, I'm sure he could help you figure it out.

I found the Donaldson Spiracle systems that look promising

The filtering catch can unit? I saw a very similar setup from another manufacturer. Someone here recommended it but I don't remember who. That's what I plan on using eventually.

Glad to hear it sounds like you figured it out! Also sounds like it wasn't a horribly expensive fix either!
 

no mufflers

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on older cat machines they just use an oil filter for the crank vent. not really sure if it will eliminate the steam but will catch the oil, i guess kinda the same. cat motors are like a cummins in terms of the amount of blow by. only downside i have seen is once the media gets saturated it doesn't really flow much.
 

Thewespaul

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I would do a high temp cerakote coating on the intake manifold and clear over that. That’s what I did on a set of my breather valve covers and they clean up great, it’s similar to the coating on the bottom of a frying pan, it cleans up really easy and handles the heat really well.
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