I've just finished putting my engine back together after renewing the shells and rings, the engine seems alot tighter to hand crank now.
its ok once u start it rotating but its quite hard to get that initail movement.
Is this normal after replacing the shells??

 

if the plugs are in then it will be tough to turn as it will be on the compression stroke
rip the plugs out and see if this helps
also did you fit the shells in correctly and torque them up correctly


when ive replaced big end shells on a turbo it spun round alright with the plugs out 1also did you use the right size shells

 

well thats BLATANTLY guna go bang as soon as u start it then!

Cross engine number two off the list

 

its just the bottom end so no head/compression etc.
there deffo the right shells and done up to right torque asp per mr haynes and the arp guide that came with the bolts i used, both main and big shells are new.

 

fuck off you

 

They say the truth hurts

 

Are you using the original crank?Had this when i rebuilt mine using a different crank? needed the end caps reground

 

did you use plenty of oil and granduly turn the crank after every bolt was tighten to ensure smooth rotation

 

did you measure the end float,thrust washers and so on fella as its easy to whack shells in unless you measure everything to ensure the correct shells are being used




what was wrong with the engine in the first place fella

 

As above, its a good idea to rotate the engine after you have fitted each crank main cap and big end bearing/cap to make sure all is well. If you fit a bearing/cap and it suddenly goes tight then there's a problem with the last bearing/cap fitted.

 

as far as i'm aware the shells are ok and to standard spec as where the worn one i took out- same part no's etc, and she does crank over ok once u start the rotation- i'm getting the impression u guys think it should be quite loose?
nowt wrong with the engine btw but i wanted to renew everything before i put it in so its done, engie was bought 2nd hand so u never know imo.

 

At the end of the day you're fitting brand new shells, theres always going to be a little bit of tightness until the engine has got hot and things have bedded in.

I had my bottom end rebuilt by an engine shop and that came back and it had a little tightness to it, but it didn't take long to free up after its first run.

i also built up up an RS bottom end and that had the same tightness to it.......as long as you can spin it over by hand i don't think personally there will be a problem

 

cheers andy, gonna take the caps back off 2moro anyway i think, re check the thrustwahser gaps etc just to be sure as its doesn't take long.
don't want ur sig coming true b4 its even in the car

 

You know it does get boring being right all the time

 

if the main bearing caps are fitted to the same place they came off (remember they sit on the block in a specific order) even with new bearing shells the crank wont be any harder to rotate.

if its had a rebore and new rings fitted this is where the tightness could may well be coming from, due to increased friction from the new rings on the freshly honed bores

 

Red16 He said to me yesterday that hes now fitted the oil pump but the engine won't turn over even with a breaker bar so obviously thats a little too tight

 

Is the engine upside down?
If so, turn it the right way up and try to crank it over again

I had a similar panic with mine a few years ago, i fitted the oil pump and it went really stiff (Oo-er). Turned it the right way up and it rotated smoothly. Fuck knows why. Must have been something to do with the oil pump.

Also, some CVH's came from the factory with oversize bearing shells IIRC- so if you have refitted standard ones they will be tight, and useless!

 

Upon reading the first 2 lines i actually thought u were taking the piss, but you're serious

Your comment on bearing sizes.....think about it.........over size bearings mean undersized crank.

Fitting standard bearings in place of over size ones will make the crank very loose in its place....... (you are wrong basically )

 

Yes you are right and i am wrong
I was thinking upside down LOL

Dead serious about the upside down engine shit though...
I was at the stage where i thought "Fuck it, its going in no matter what", so a turned it the right way up to carry on assembling it, and it rotated freely. I turned it upside down again, and it went stiff again (Just a stiff point once every full rotation IIRC) The oil pump was a brand new Burton Power high pressure jobbie...

 

**smug mode**

Thats odd, but could be to do with the way the pump works internally, but it does sound like one of those scenarios when people say "it needed to warm up"

 

Yeah it had to be something with the pump... IIRC i even went as far as removing and refitting the pump, but the problem remained... Didnt go away until the engine was the right way up.
I was in a real rush to get it back together too, thats why i was prepared to say "Fuck it, do or die". It was a saturday and i was booked on track at National day 8 days later
It was running by sunday tea time, done 600 miles by thursday night, got the fuelling checked on friday and off to Donno on saturday afternoon That was 2002 and its still alive!

I can see how funny the upside down comment was
I was assuming the engine was out and on a bench, not upside down in the engine bay LOL

 

Well im really dissapointed to learn the engine wont work upside down, back to the drawing board for me

 

Important lesson learned:

If you ever crash and roll a CVH powered car onto its roof and the engine stays running, turn it off IMMEDIATELY (Or as soon as consciousness is regained) to prevent terminal engine damage.

 

i wonder if he has the bearing caps on the wrong way round, eg... 1,2,3,4,5 instead of 5,4,3,2,1. this would cause the crank to be tight and possibly not move at all.

 

spot on mr red
i blame the gf for coming to help me on sat- wasn't concentrating
still quite tight but turns over lovely now with a normal socket wrench
*runs and hides ready for torrent of abuse *

 

Red16......do they have minor increases/decreases in diameter through the chronological order of them then?

Chris...........fairplay your a fucking dude sometimes

Rest assured people, Chris only works on the AEROPLANES we go on holiday on

 

doubt they do, otherwise the bearing shells wouldnt fit the same in each bearing cap/block location, meaning they'd either be tight/slack/correct depending which diameter one they were in.

i think its just the way theyre machined at the factory, they have to go back in the same position they were removed from to keep everything as intended, unless you bolted them down and had your machine shop line bore the block, and supply new bearings to suit.

 

Chris you numpty

i didn`t know it was that tight, i thought you could turn it over. Mine was tight, but with a socket an little rench it turned perfectly.


So what planes you work on, i want to know, cause i sure as hell not getting on one

 

i blame u lot for a forming a club that won't help me , i learn't that form airbus aswell- fooking slipperry shoulders

 

Ahhh yes of course the shells wouldnt all fit then lol, i get ya now