I'm rebuilding my 22RE. I've got everything together, motor spins over nicely when rod bolts are loose. The manual says torque to 51lbs, in two sequences. I started at 39, then was going to go to 51. As soon I torque down 1 & 4, to 39 lbs, I can't even turn the motor over at all. It's locked up. Everything is oiled well.

I'm stumped, and frustrated. Does anybody know what this means? Any suggestions what to check?

 

Sounds like the rod bearings may be to thick. There should be a stamped number on the outside of the rod bearing that tells how many thousands over std they are. Check to see if you have the correct size. Did you buy a crank kit or have the old crank journals polished?

 

rod bolt torque shouldn't have an effect on how tight the bearing is . . . you did use Plasti-gage to verify your oil clearances, right? If not, now is the time before you put it together and kick yourself in the a$$ later - check mains and rods

 

My first thought was bearings, too.

I have a dial caliper gauge right in front of me. The stock bearings that I pulled from the motor are the EXACT same size as the new bearings I have. Both are STANDARD size. The crankshaft was not polished, or bored. I put the stock bearings in just for curiosity, torqued the rods down, and it all spun freely...I put the new bearings in, torque it, even to 20 lbs, and it locks up to where I can't even turn it. This tells me its the new bearings, but everything measures exactly the same when comparing the stock and new bearings. I am stumped.

 

The crankshaft was installed, and torqued to spec, and turned freely with no problems. Those were also standard bearings. The only thing I am having problems with is the rods.

 

are your rods installed facing in the right direction?

that's odd...


Only thing I can thing of is if you didn't have the rods checked out. After 296k on my originals they were slightly out of round and had to be honed. If the rod end has become slightly egg-shaped, I can definately see it causeing a pinch after torquing down...

 

have you mixed the caps up?

 

I did NOT have the rods checked. I did have them in the engine shop today tho to have the new wrist pin bushings in and honed. I can throw up some pictures of the NEW bearings that already have wear on them just front turning it over. Would that be beneficial to anyone on here to see a picture? Would that get me any further?

The motor only had 160K on it, blew a head gasket so I tore it apart. Everything was in PERFECT condition.

 

the rod and cap are machined together. cant mix'm up

 

x2 if them things are off a little bit you could end up where you are now , also did you use a lube on them? just a thought maybe if you did forget there's nothing to let them slide in the bearings and spin freely kind of like a binding point

 

tangs go together. I've been building engines for over 20years. and have seen the caps mixed up alot.

 

How are you using dial calipers to measure the bearings? To do that properly, you need a bore gage and micrometers. When you're counting a dimension down to .0001", dial calipers are inadequate.

 

Ok, here is the story. I brought my rods to the engine shop today so that I could have the new wrist pin bushings installed. When I brought them in, the rods were labeled 1 2 3 4, and the caps were also labeled 1 2 3 4, so that I dont get them mixed up. Simply marked by a sharpie. They have already been hot tanked, I didnt think twice that sharpie comes off. Anyways, when I dropped off the rods, the caps were SEPARATE from the rods, but still nonetheless, all were marked. Each rod was numbered, and I had the caps, bolts, and bearings for each rod in 4 separate containers. Well, after they installed the bushings, they hot tanked the rods again. The sharpie came off, and when I picked up the rods, everything was just laying in a box. I asked the guy, I hope you know which ones are which, bcause I had them numbered. He didnt, because the numbers were gone, but he tried to match up the marks or something. I think that the caps may be mixed up, and this may be my problem. Is there ANY WAY to get them right again? How can I tell which cap belongs to which rod?

 

There should be numbers on the sides of each top and bottom rod cap let me see if I took pics of them when I did mine or better yet I can go get a couple pics that may help you figure this out brb.

 

OK pics in a min but here's what to look for on the LEFT hand side of both the connecting rod and cap you will find a stamped num 1-4 1 being the hole closetest to the timing cover 4 being the rear most hole match the stamped numbers 1-4 to each one.

On the right side will be a number and letter I will get the pics up in a min but thought I would give you something to start looking for while I download the pics

 

This is my rod #1, both sides.


I don't know what any of these mean....:shrug:

 

Here's a couple pics hard to flip my motor by myself so this is the best I could do


LEFT SIDE BOTH CAP AND ROD HAVE STAMPED NUMBERS LIKE THIS TIMING COVER END IS 1 cap1-1rod cap 2-2rod cap 3-3 rod cap 4- 4 rod



RIGHT SIDE number on rod Letter on Cap again 1-4

 

The way I understand it the number is the hole and the letters are the bearing size when new if you had to polish it may not mean the same for the bearings

 

just match the numbers on the left side to the rod and cap and see what happens remember 1 is the front 4 is the rear hole

 

Your first pic looks like you have 3rod and 4 cap together match the numbers on the left side1-1 2-2 3-3 4-4 the numbers and letters will work them selfs out once you have the numbers lined up correct and if you notice in the second picture you took the rod and cap do not line up quite right.