I'm in the middle of a head and cam swap I got the cam in and the heads on. NONE of the rocker arms or spark plugs installed. When i went to turn the crank it wouldn't move, so i got a breaker bar still nothing. has this ever happened to anybody? What else could be obstructing the crank from moving?

 

Did you leave your timing chain hanging down into the pan? Sometimes the chain can get caught up and not let you turn the crank. Have you tried both directions or is it stuck clockwise only?

 

IIRC the cam may not be aligned properly or piston to valve isnt clearing.... I remember seeing that on ls1howto.com cam swap page.... what cam/heads?

 

He said the rockers arent installed which means the valves arent opening. Plugs are out so no compression, has to be something else...

 

It's a TR224 cam stock heads but i pulled them off, comp pushrods, titanium retainers, 26918 springs. It's just so happens the timing chain was hanging from a camshaft retainer bolt, but I did check it for tension. Also since i originally posted i tryed turning the flywheel by prying against the block with a screwdriver, and snapped the screwdriver. Originally i was using the old harmonic balancer bolt(turning clockwise) and since I was prying on the block I tryed turning clockwise. Lastly I know the cams not mis aligned because I checked all the valves and they are at installed height. Keep the ideas coming though i appreciate it!

 

Are the lifters installed and is the timing chain on the cam sprocket?

 

M6? Car in gear with e brake on?

 

Auto in park, lifters installed, timing chain is hanging loose. I'm completly baffled.

 

If the chain is hanging loose it could be balled up under the crank sprocket like Post #2 said. Did you have the oil pump or crank sprocket off?

 

No, i didn't touch the oil pump or crank sprocket, and like i prevously stated the chain is dangling from the camshaft retainer plate bolt.

 

Could a lifter have dropped while you had the cam out? I seen you said you had the heads off, but did you pull the lifters out before installing the cam? Thats the only other thing I could think of since the motor was fine before the swap. A lifter could of dropped and is wedged in the crank somewhere. Just throwing out ideas!

 

Well the vedict is in although it leads to another interesting problem. When i took everything off I left all the bolts with the parts they went with, and I am CERTAIN I used the correct bolts to put the retainer plate back on, they had the same tarnished look on the bolt head as the plate, and the marks on the retainer plate is the same size as the bolt head. Ultimately the camshaft retainer bolts were interfering with the crank spinning, I took the plate off and now it turns over like a dream. When i re-installed the retainer plate I tourqed them to the specified 22ft/lb, but the bolts still were'nt clamping down the plate. So I turned them a little more so they would clamp it down. In addition to the reasons i previously stated why i still belive those are the bolts i took out, I searched through all the other bolts i could find and couldn't find any shorter than the ones I used to re-install the retainer plate. So while I'm still just as confused as i was before, I'm happy my bottom end isn't locked up.

 

Interesting...glad you got it figured out though. What are you going to use to hold the retainer plate on then if those bolts interfere?

 

I'm would still like to figure out WHY those bolts are interfering, however if I'm unable to resolve a soultion I'll simply use shorter bolts with plenty of loctite.

 

I just saw today that the cam retainer plate bolts and the cam sprocket bolts are ALMOST the same size bolt...however, the cam sprocket bolts are a hair longer...if you get one of those in the retainer plate bolt holes, you will have the problem you had with the engine not turning.