found the limit of my 408 :(
so when i'm done the crank is very very hard to turn , i'm still thinking at that time its a rough spot ( didn't have any sleep the last few days, so as you can tell my judgement is impaired
)so on the way back from the garage , i was discussing this with a friend, and he told me that running the engine like that would result in an overheatd or welded bearing ( no why didn't i think of that
)which brings me to my question : are all the main bearings for lsx engines the same dimetion throughout the years ( mainly 2000 to 2004 ) ?? cause i'm starting to think that i got main bearings that are a bit tighter than whet was in there originally . keep in mind no machining was done to the crank.
no, i was so tired i rationalized skipping that step by thinking: the crank is worn, and i don't know where the plastiguage is ; thus the clearances will be ok if not on the loose side 
i'll be taking it appart today and see what i find.
back to the question though, are there different standard main bearing sizes throughout the years of lsx production , and do the 6.0 mains and the 5.7 mains differ in size?
well i found out what cas causing the engine not to turn smoothly ,
as i was pulling the pistons out i found that the second one i put in had the lower oil ring fold into the skirt , and was scraping the wall
so a quick hone later , and a "new" (read canabalized ) lower oil ring from the other pistons and the piston was fixed ..... well untill one of the other pistons fell out of the bore as i was removing it and chipped the brand new 2nd compression ring
,,,,, so out came the old piston to the rescue with the old 2nd ring 
i'm happy to say that the crank spins freely now, and the rotating assembly no longer requires a 5 ft prybar to turn

here is the piston i was talking about :

and here is the chipped ring:

now i just need to get the cam back from the machine shop ( fix the dowel thingy that broke) and i can button up engine.
The Best V8 Stories One Small Block at Time
and here's a question for you guys, i never built an engine with standard tension oil rings, but will using them make the rotating assembly just a bit harder to spin when compared to low tension oil rings?

and whats wrong with rebearing it without machining it - thats what i did to this engine when i pulled it off the camaro and it ran fine till i roasted the pistons
( the phrase " if it ain't broke, why fix it " comes to mind
)i know i should have had the block machined , but if i did so , it would need to go to 60 over, and then the pistons i have would not work . so , untill i get 60 over pistons, all this block is seeing is a hone job
34 NOS JET, 32 FUEL JET
NGK #9 PLUGS
.35 GAP
16* TIMING
C16 FUEL
414CI IRON 6.0
THIS IS MY SETUP, EVERY CAR IS DIFF THOUGH.
Last edited by blown69ls1; Aug 11, 2008 at 12:20 AM.

and whats wrong with rebearing it without machining it - thats what i did to this engine when i pulled it off the camaro and it ran fine till i roasted the pistons
( the phrase " if it ain't broke, why fix it " comes to mind
)i know i should have had the block machined , but if i did so , it would need to go to 60 over, and then the pistons i have would not work . so , untill i get 60 over pistons, all this block is seeing is a hone job

the motor never "let go " per-say, it was running great ; i only noticed the knocking when i put the exhaust back on . and when i took the plugs to check wether i had a coolant leak because of a gasket problem i was surprised to find the plugs like they were !
i still can't belive how smooth the thing idled and how strong it pulled ( i drove it a bit just before i pulled the plugs) with the plugs being like they were.
It tried to run 10's, but no luck. The car ran the best on the dyno with this plug/gap and i have it on a safe tune. Trick Flow 225 CNC heads, LMR and LME done the work. Car ran a best of 8.81 @ 154
8.81 is a good run but id bet theres more in it when you nail the tune
Last edited by ShiznityZ28; Aug 13, 2008 at 09:52 AM.



(I've never used that one before, but find it applicable.)



