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Factory ring gaps on a forged motor

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Old Feb 17, 2018 | 02:45 PM
  #21  
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Originally Posted by orange88ls1s-dime
I guess you guys are right

I've been doing it wrong all along
Agreed.
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Old Feb 17, 2018 | 07:00 PM
  #22  
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But in no way whatsoever does installing and torquing the bearings up render them unusable. That is just nonsense.[/QUOTE]
When the soft Babbitt material gets distorted from the torquing sequence it doesn't bounce back when untorqued
I'm not on here to fight with anyone I just don't want simple mistakes to be made and cost a guy big bucks over a 11$ bearing
as for the guys attacking my posts personally if I'm wrong about this one then so was grumpy Jenkins who was good friends with Barry Maskery who was my engines teacher in college
or Bill Miller of Bill Miller connecting rods who taught Bill Cannon of awesome engines where I worked and built numerous 1000+ hp engines
haha the little tabs on the back of the bearing
a lot of good that is going to do
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Old Feb 17, 2018 | 07:34 PM
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Originally Posted by orange88ls1s-dime
When the soft Babbitt material gets distorted from the torquing sequence it doesn't bounce back when untorqued
I'm not on here to fight with anyone I just don't want simple mistakes to be made and cost a guy big bucks over a 11$ bearing
as for the guys attacking my posts personally if I'm wrong about this one then so was grumpy Jenkins who was good friends with Barry Maskery who was my engines teacher in college
or Bill Miller of Bill Miller connecting rods who taught Bill Cannon of awesome engines where I worked and built numerous 1000+ hp engines
haha the little tabs on the back of the bearing
a lot of good that is going to do

So how do you explain the rod bearings that Happel has taken out of other motors, slammed into a different engine (with stock rods) using WD40 as engine assembly lube and ramming upper 20 psi of boost through, with a shot of spray and slamming almost 1100 at the wheel?

The amount of "crush" at you put it is nearly zero. It MIGHT be a 0.0001". Next time you assembly one of your world class engines, install the bearing and measure how much it sticks out past the rod/cap. That'll tell you how much "crush" you're getting. I bet it's negligible.

And don't send me any more PM's crying because you were told you were wrong on more than one occasion.

It's ok to be wrong. Accept it. You'll be way less stressed over little tiny details.
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Old Feb 18, 2018 | 06:02 AM
  #24  
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Originally Posted by orange88ls1s-dime
But in no way whatsoever does installing and torquing the bearings up render them unusable. That is just nonsense. FACT.
When the soft Babbitt material gets distorted from the torquing sequence it doesn't bounce back when untorqued
I'm not on here to fight with anyone I just don't want simple mistakes to be made and cost a guy big bucks over a 11$ bearing
as for the guys attacking my posts personally if I'm wrong about this one then so was grumpy Jenkins who was good friends with Barry Maskery who was my engines teacher in college
or Bill Miller of Bill Miller connecting rods who taught Bill Cannon of awesome engines where I worked and built numerous 1000+ hp engines
haha the little tabs on the back of the bearing
a lot of good that is going to do

So please explain how those people who will test build to get the bearing to crank clearances they want, by testing various bearings etc.....how could that ever be possible, if every set of bearings they tested by torquing up, then had to be thrown away ?

They test a set....undo to measure, check plastiguage or whatever and find it's perfect....but no, have to throw them away they're now scrap. So you'd be in a groundhog day of forever throwing away bearings because you could never install the ones you wanted....because they're scrap.
It's just silly.

In no way whatsoever is there an issue with torquing up bearings 1, 2, 3 however many times is needed.

And no idea what you're referring to about the alignment tabs.....but that is all they are for, many modern engines have no tabs at all.
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Old Feb 18, 2018 | 10:56 AM
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Wonder what ring gaps are set to on the B15 which is built for 15PSI (but known to tolerate over 20)? Sounds like it wouldn't be the same as an LS9 or LSA if those motors use the same ring gap as a factory LS3 (and use oil squirters) or I doubt they would be capable of pushing over 1000hp with 20+ PSI like a few have done.
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Old Feb 18, 2018 | 12:33 PM
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Originally Posted by orange88ls1s-dime
When the soft Babbitt material gets distorted from the torquing sequence it doesn't bounce back when untorqued.
Absolutely false. The babbitt is just a soft top layer in a bearing. Being as soft as it is, it has no problem "bouncing back" after being distorted. It has nothing to do with crush either. That's the steel/aluminum backing that provides the crush.

When you build an engine, assuming you check clearances, do you replace the bearings after you've torque the rod or main housing bore to check the bearing clearance?
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Old Feb 18, 2018 | 01:04 PM
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Originally Posted by kris396ss
Wonder what ring gaps are set to on the B15 which is built for 15PSI (but known to tolerate over 20)? Sounds like it wouldn't be the same as an LS9 or LSA if those motors use the same ring gap as a factory LS3 (and use oil squirters) or I doubt they would be capable of pushing over 1000hp with 20+ PSI like a few have done.
Boost is only a number and largely meaningless.

Ring material, and whatever heat/trauma you impart into them will determine how long they live. ( and of course what heat you can also pull away via the piston etc )

The only generic rule you can apply....is never gap them too tight ! Always err on the side of caution.
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Old Feb 18, 2018 | 04:16 PM
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When you build an engine, assuming you check clearances, do you replace the bearings after you've torque the rod or main housing bore to check the bearing clearance?[/QUOTE]

connecting rod ID - crank journal - bearing thickness×2 = clearance ÷2
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Old Feb 18, 2018 | 04:22 PM
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Is that before or after crush ? lol
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Old Feb 18, 2018 | 09:48 PM
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How do you factor in "crush" Give it the ole college try? Surely you can't test it because then the bearing is trash afterwards....
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Old Feb 19, 2018 | 07:20 AM
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Originally Posted by stevieturbo
Is that before or after crush ? lol
Exactly
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Old Feb 19, 2018 | 01:08 PM
  #32  
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Originally Posted by orange88ls1s-dime
I guess you guys are right
I mean what the hell do I know
I've only built 600 motors over the past 20 years
been doing it wrong all along
I torqued all 8 rods 3 times (stepped) each to 75ft/lbs when I built my motor (Ls2). Also had other motors (sbc and bbc) apart, and have yet to spin a bearing.... or have any other issues. Who taught you this nonsense? Seems that having done all 8 this way, I would have at least thrown 1 rod by now. This current motor has been together for 2 years, been on the dyno.... and to the track more than a few times btw.

Last edited by Game ova; Feb 19, 2018 at 01:25 PM.
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Old Feb 19, 2018 | 07:41 PM
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Originally Posted by stevieturbo
Boost is only a number and largely meaningless.

Ring material, and whatever heat/trauma you impart into them will determine how long they live. ( and of course what heat you can also pull away via the piston etc )

The only generic rule you can apply....is never gap them too tight ! Always err on the side of caution.
good catch, but what I meant was if many are making over 1000 with these b15's, the cylinder pressures must be fairly high for that. I wonder if they are using the same gap on those as the LS9.
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Old Feb 20, 2018 | 01:08 AM
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Detonation creates the highest cylinder pressures...not so much power...ad detonation creates them all at the wrong times.
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Old Feb 25, 2018 | 09:46 PM
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Maybe that guy was thinking rod bolts, if they're torque to yield like the head bolts on the LS engines aren't they a use once and replace item?

And I agree with those that recommend opening up the ring gaps to give yourself room to up the boost later as we all know you will at some point.
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Old Feb 26, 2018 | 10:19 AM
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Originally Posted by 97Z28SS
Maybe that guy was thinking rod bolts, if they're torque to yield like the head bolts on the LS engines aren't they a use once and replace item?

And I agree with those that recommend opening up the ring gaps to give yourself room to up the boost later as we all know you will at some point.
Stock motors have studs typically and they are not TTY. Any time you replace them with bolts, they are typically much stronger and not TTY.

I'm not sure what cars come with TTY rod bolts, if any. Maybe some newer domestic 4 cyl? German maybe?
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Old Feb 26, 2018 | 02:33 PM
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Originally Posted by 97Z28SS
Maybe that guy was thinking rod bolts, if they're torque to yield like the head bolts on the LS engines aren't they a use once and replace item?

And I agree with those that recommend opening up the ring gaps to give yourself room to up the boost later as we all know you will at some point.
They're not TTY, they're reusable. There was even a TSB on the older Gen III style rod bolts saying they can be torqued another 10 degrees IIRC.
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