Topic: a bit of work on my 77 TA

[Schroeder]

Here are my bearings from the back of the engine to the front.  Smith, that is oil sitting on the bearings.











These are the top side of the engine bearings btw.  I'm going out now to get pics of the bottom side bearings.

[joe d]

they do not look horrible, but you have some cleaning to do and get that shop rag out of there, they have loads of lint, seems to be quite a bit of debris so you will want to clean them pretty good and wipe them down with a lint free cloth, then use loads of assembly lube for re-assembly. great pics btw

[joe d]

can you post some pics of the crank journals? also run your finger nail across the journals to feel for unusual wear

[Schroeder]

I'll go get some pics of the journals now and check for wear.  I have 5 pics of the lower halves of the crank bearings uploading now (country connections take a couple mins longer than your guys' connections :-/   ), and after that I'll upload the journal pics.   

Yeah, I'm pretty lucky when it comes to pictures.  We have a great camera here at home, and it comes in handy. 

I'm leaning towards replacing the bearings after looking more closely at the bottom halves.  Idk if they just need cleaned up and to get some oil on them or if they're shot.  I guess I'll let you guys be the judge.  Thanks everyone for the help, hints, and suggestions!

[Schroeder]

pictured first are the bearings' lower halves.  Pictured second are my crank journals (back of engine to front).





















I left some of the pics of the journals out because they pretty much all look the same.  Thanks for your input guys!

[joe d]

looks like a very dirty assembly to me, as for the line/groove in the middle that is not a problem as 2 bearings meet, the issue i see if the amount of fine grooves in the one pic of 7-8 cylinder, the pitting and the corrosion. i would without a doubt replace the bearings and get the crank to a machine shop to see if they can polish it, ask the to measure it then see if it can be polished opposed to ground under

[Schroeder]

looks like a very dirty assembly to me, as for the line/groove in the middle that is not a problem as 2 bearings meet, the issue i see if the amount of fine grooves in the one pic of 7-8 cylinder, the pitting and the corrosion. i would without a doubt replace the bearings and get the crank to a machine shop to see if they can polish it, ask the to measure it then see if it can be polished opposed to ground under

sounds expensive.  I'll call my local o' reily's tomorrow and see who I should get ahold of to get the crank polished or ground under.  I'm assuming I have to have him polish them to the same OD and then pick undersized bearings, normal, or oversized based on what the journals' dimensions are after the polishing??

[joe d]

polishing a crank is inexpensive and once they see it they can determine the next step and bearing size, there are machine shops that specialize in cranks

[Schroeder]

polishing a crank is inexpensive and once they see it they can determine the next step and bearing size, there are machine shops that specialize in cranks

I'm going to call O-Reily's tomorrow for suggestions and if they can't help me I'm going to call a mechanic down the road.  hopefully they can steer me in the right direction because I have not heard of such shops.  Since I am in the country I may have to drive a ways to get to a shop.  I'll let you guys know what I find out!

[Schroeder]

Well guys, I took my crankshaft to a shop far, far away in the sticks.  There is no where immediately around me that grinds and polishes cranks, but I found one about 45 minutes away.  It appears that this crankshaft has been ground already.  It was ground .010" under standard.  The shop told me they will be grinding it .030" under.  I have to call them back in the morning because I don't know why they're skipping the .020" under size?  I'd rather they take less off than more. 

Does anyone here know why they would skip right to .030 under from .010 under?  I'm sure none of the scratches are bad enough to where they have to skip directly to .030 and over the intermediate .020 step. 

On a more positive note, I supposedly located the correct combination u-joint and ordered it after none of the local parts stores could help me.  I also received my order from ames today!



I'm excited to get the engine back together, cleaned, and get this metallic blue sprayed on it!

[joe d]

keep in mind it is thousandths so some of those aweful scratches could have been to bad get your tape out and look at 1/16th then think about 1/1000 of an inch

[ShakerBreaker]

Most will tell you .030 is a maxed out crank.
.030 at rods is max..

10/10  is ideal on a fresh core crank

[Schroeder]

Most will tell you .030 is a maxed out crank.
.030 at rods is max..

10/10  is ideal on a fresh core crank

well as it turns out my crank is maxed out...to an extent.  I misunderstood yesterday when we were discussing my crankshaft.  It turns out that the mains are ground to .010 under right now, so the grinding operation currently being done on them is taking them to .020 under.  It turns out the rod journals are currently ground to .030 under.  It is good they only need polished because I don't currently have money for a new crank.  I will be getting the crank and the new bearings today or tomorrow.  I also have some nice parts out for delivery today via UPS and FedEx.  I will have PLENTY to do after today and tomorrow!  I'll show you guys my new parts.  i can't wait to get 'em outta their boxes and on the car. 

[Schroeder]

here are the said parts!   

engine mounts, u-joints (one is greasable because it's funky, the other is a non-greasable moog.  It was a standard u-joint that I picked up at advance auto.), energy suspension body mounts, and engine mounts.  I also picked up a new tranny mount which I didn't picture.



Also, after doing a lot of research today, I'm not afraid of having the mains on my crank ground to .020 under.  I'm also not too concerned that my rod journals are currently at .030 under.  It sounds like all will be well!

[Schroeder]

well guys I got the crank back today.  The journals have been turned and polished.  Super shiny!    I got new main bearings and new rod bearings too.  Can't wait to get them in!  I can wait to pay the credit card bill    I also got anxious and opened up some of my metallic blue engine pant from Ames.  I painted the timing cover and oil pan.  It looks great!

I'll post pics of this stuff the next couple days.