Chevyman, thanks for the info. I read the long post several times, then thought about my motor.
This is where it gets truly weird:
My block date code is A 19 4. Thats Jan 19, 1954, right? My motor has the 2.150" cam bearings and shims under the main caps. It has dowel-pin mains and solid lifters w/ the three speed.
A little backstory may be appropriate:
I bought the car in 1990. Cherry, complete and had never been apart or modified. Gave it an in-car ring job. Drove until 1997 when the #6 piston broke in half and beat itself apart.
Dad brought the car to a fly-by-night shop that made its living by butchering Ferd Tempos. They butchered my car so badly I decided to redo it myself.
Bought a crank kit from a auto parts store. They told me NOT to shim the mains. (I didn't know any better!) Plastigauged the mains to about .0019. Cranked the engine up, and it overheated. Let it cool, fired it up and drove it 300 miles before the #2 and #3 mains wiped down to the copper and locked up. Luckily it seized in my parent's driveway.
Pulled that crank kit out, got a new one under warranty and shimmed it in at .0035". Slapped the motor back together and drove it 10,000 miles. Installed a Holley 390, fentons and HEI. Drove another 2K before the crank end-play knocked the bearings to pieces.
Now here I am. I am so freaking paranoid about crank installation because this motor has had 2 strange bottom end failures since 1997.
Any chance that overheated crank ruined my block or warped the caps? What should I have the machine shop check for?
Is a 235 crank this tricky, or am I just making this too complicated?
Chip :confused:
[ 01-15-2002: Message edited by: chiphead ]
