The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop 1954 235 rebuild

I just has the cylinders honed 30 over, new 30 over cylinders and new rings, balanced crankshaft, new cam and crank bearings, new gaskets.
My question is when its all assembled and torqued to 95 pds you cant move the crank, it has assembly lube. is this unusual or normal? Everything is new and sealed tight, i would think this is normal, but absolutley postive before going further putting the head on ect...

Did you use Plastigage to measure the clearance between the crank journals and bearings? Shims are typically used to set the clearance, and if this wasn't measured and shims not used, it will be too tight. If the clearance wasn't measured and set to specification, I would go back and measure it and shim as needed. It's been some years since I rebuilt my 54 235, but I don't remember it being to tight to turn.
Samantha

Hy gas dude, Samantha is correct, you should check the clearance at each main bearing and shim to spec's. The crank should turn after each main bearing is set up, If you leave the rear main seal out until all the bearings are set up, you will only feel bearing drag, some bearings will only require a shim under one side of the bearing cap, some may require a shim on each side, hope that helps.

You have to find out where the drag is, as stated above. The 1954 engine still used shims on the mains and there is a procedure in the manual for adjusting them.

I just disassembled my '53 and found shims on both sides of all main bearings.

It spins good without anything attached, but when coonecting rods and pistons attached wouldnt, i determined it must be from the surface contacts from the rings ect...

it must be from the surface contacts from the rings

Definitely not right.
Bent rod, .00 skirt clearance, rings end-butted, 1 piston hitting the head @ TDC.

The head wasnt on yet, brand new rings, cylinders just donr to 30 over, crank balanced, new bearings, and crankend gaskets. its still on the engine stand, im tryn to turn it by hand, it must be just a tight fit?? My first rebuild but everything important has been done by a machine shop.

Just cleaned and polished the exhaust and intake manifold, does it need to be painted or can it be left as is, will it rust if left.

I remember I did an engine and used plastigage even. But it seemed awfully tight. When together I could hardly get it to turn over with the starter motor--had to use 24 volts on a 12 volt starter. The engine never did work very well. And I never new what the resistance was but would check next time before going further on any rebuild--thats alot of work to go through.

As you put an engine together you should rotate the crankshaft after each piston gets installed. If there is a problem it will be obvious. They are tighter when new but it should be possible to rotate them with a breaker bar.

I've always liked to measure the torque required to turn the crankshaft after each component is installed. With just the crankshaft (and front and rear main seals) alone, only a couple of ft-lbf should be needed. Each piston-ring-rod usually adds about 3 to 5 ft-lbf. With all of the pistons, about 15 to 30 ft-lbf is usually needed, if I recall correctly. If you are using a '54 crank pully, a 3/4" square-drive wrench fits the center hole and makes it easy to turn the crank.

Hoyt