how difficult should it be to turn a rebuilt engine by hand? i've just torqued up the crank and rods in my zetec and the zetec is stiffer to turn by hand than i expected.

compared to the engine currently in my car it is stiffer to turn, and i've not yet put the head on so there is less resistance in terms of moving parts...

please tell me this is normal

it seems like it turns freely enough but initially it is sort of "seized" then it's free, but if i leave it for a few minutes it will be stiff/seized again and then once it turns it's fine.


any thoughts appreciated

thanks a lot

 

They are tight to start with when turning by hand as all the surfaces are rough on a microscopic level, certainly dry bores, or even new oiled bores are very good at causing friction, so long as crank spun freely nothing to worry about.
tabetha

 

as long as it turns over youre in the clear

will be stiff most probably cause the engine is dry.

 

have you used all the same rod bolt caps as before as my mate built an engine a while ago and he used different ones and the engine was realy stiff,