(1978 Inline-6 200 CI Rebuild) 3 questions...

[Mac]

Local rebuilder rebored the cylinders and rebuilt the head with new springs, guides, valves, seals and seats and turned the crank. I purchased the master rebuild kit that contains piston and rings, bearings, cam, lifters and all mounting gaskets. I installed the rings and pistons and I've lubed the crank journals and rod and main bearings and torqued the main bolts and rod nuts to the correct torque and I dipped the bolts and nuts in oil beforehand. Block is currently positioned on an engine stand, head has not been installed yet.

Question 1: Figuring out the oiling ring was easy, but the two compression rings---- I hope I installed them correctly. The top rings and the middle rings appeared to be the same width and both sets were marked with purple spray on the sides near the gaps. One set had a "stamped" dot about 1/2" from the gap and the other set had a "stamped" dot about 3/4" from the gap.Does it matter which ring groove I chose to install the rings in? I installed dot at 1/2" from gap in the top grooves.

Question 2: When I put my socket on the crank nut to turn it, I have to use a cheater pipe to get the crank to turn to see those pistons move. Is it normal on new rebuilds for it to take a lot of umph to turn the crank?

Question 3: My setup has the non-adjustable rockers and rocker shaft.
What is the correct order of installation? Lifters, then cam, then pushrods and finally rocker arm shaft? Do I just torque the shaft to the head according to spec and thats it?

Thanks.

 

[XFlow_Fairlane]

on motors I have built...

with just a crank it will turn over by hand.

once the pistons are in it gets tighter and needs a bar/wrench to turn it over (I can wiggle it a little with my hands on the damper but can't fully rotate it)

until those rings are seated/broke in there is alot of friction there.

 

[rbohm]

8)

1: most ring sets come with a set of instructions of how ti install the rings, and the packages are marked as to which set is the top ring and which is the second ring. if you have either chrome faced rings, or moly faced rings, the second ring is cast iron only. the chrome ring is easy to spot, the moly ring is tougher, but still noticable. the chrome or moly ring will go in the top ring position. to spot a moly ring, you need to look close and you will see three distinct bands on the face of the ring, the center band being darker. this is the moly ring and it also is the top ring. if you have all iron rings, the one with an angle cut as thus / is the second ring. you will need to use a piece of glass and a straight edge, and some mighty fine vision to see the angle cu tin the face of the ring.

2: the crank should spin easily when installed and the main caps torqued down, but no pistons installed. as each piston is installed, it will take more effort to turn the crank, but you should still be able to do it without anything longer than a standard breaker bar(about 18" long). any more than that, even with all pistons installed, and you have a binding problem somewhere. perhaps a bearing that is too tight. recheck your bearing clearances, and make sure the bearing are properly lubed.

3: regarding the rocker arms, yes you install the lifters, head, pushrods, then the racker arm assembly, and torque the rocker arm assembly bolts to spec. if there were any shims installed, these need to be reinstalled as well.

 

[fordconvert]

To clarify the the order:

Crank and pistons
Cam and timing set
Lifters (dont flip the motor after this step)
Head
pushrods
rocker shaft assy (then you can flip it around again without the lifters falling out)

 

[HARVEY LIGHT]

On the second motor I rebuilt (ages ago) I found out that you need to determine the ring clearance before installing the rings, otherwise you get a binding situation. To do this
1)check your spec sheet for the clearance amount
2) get the proper feeler guage
3) with just the ring and using a piston to push it in, insert the ring into the cylinder hole so it is level and near the top (easy to pull it back out).
4) check the amount of space left between the ends of the ring. Too little space means binding, just right is OK, a tad larger is usable, too much and you don't get the seal.
To rectify the too little problem, carefully file some material from the ring ends and retest. This can make all the difference in an easy to turn crank and one that needs the two ton gorilla bar.

 

[addo]

Hey Mac, the dot goes to the top - in case you hadn't been aware of this detail.

Did you space the ring gaps on each piston, 120° apart?

 

[Mac]

Everyone,

Yes, I positioned the dots to face upward. I called the rebuilder and he told me there is a bevel on the top surface of the top ring and a bevel surface on the bottom surface of the middle ring. I pulled the pistons and rechecked every one of them and I had them positioned correctly and the gaps like the directions said... oil ring gaps 180° apart and each of the compression rings 180° apart (ie north south east and west). The ring gaps on all rings were within the tolerance range.

I decided to reread the haynes manual and I saw something I overlooked. The thrust bearing is supposed to be on main #5. I dunno why but I stuck it on the rear main #7. I pulled the crank and swapped the thrust bearing to #5 and then replaced the crank,etc. It turns perfectly now. I can now turn it with a breaker bar with little trouble.



Thanks for replying everyone. I'll start on the cam and lifter install this evening!

 

[JOHN G]

Did you plastiguage the clearances on the bearings after you swapped them? It is possible to have distorted the one that was tight previously. An ounce of prevention now...

 

[mugsy]

Did you check the crankshaft end play too?