92ShoOff
SHO Member
Okay so I don't know if you all are familiar with Derek Savage... he's another SHO owner from PA, here on the East coast. Well we were considering a trade... his '92 MTX (with LOTS of mods) for my '97 El Camino (also LOTS of mods), but one thing has me kinda skeptical. He has a new 3.0 motor from ShoShop bored out to a 3.2. The engine started to knock some time ago and he immediately shut the car off and had it towed home. Well from what I understand he didn't let the engine break-in properly and had spun a bearing. He replaced the bearing (possibly all of them, not just the one that spun... but then again this is a new motor and all) but didn't have a torque wrench to torque the caps.
He said he figured the first time he tightened them down they were too tight because he had a hard time turning the engine over after he got everything back together on the bottom end. He then loosened up the the caps and the engine turned over just fine but then started knocking again. He doesn't have time to fix it because he's leaving for Iraq on the 15th of this month and I'm just worried that he might have a bigger problem than the caps being maybe too loose the last time he tightened them. I'm concerned that he might have a bad crank if thing is knocking, but then again maybe it IS that he just doesn't have the caps tightened down enough. I know the logical thing to do is have him find a torque wrench somewhere and torque them to the correct specs and see what happens afterwards but I don't think he's going to have the time to do it. And I frankly don't want to make the trade, and tow his car down to my place and find out it needs a new crank.
So does anyone think the crank could be bad. My dad is pressed on thinking it's bad since he had to touch the bearings in a new motor... but we had to change the bearings on my El Camino that has a new motor (350 block with a 383 Stroker kit and ALL kinds of "goodies" :****: ) because some idiot I had paint the car rev'd it really high on a cold start. That blew the rings on the #6 piston and made a few bearings wear down to the copper. We change out all the rings and all the bearings and the motor is perfectly fine now... so my dad knows that WE didn't have to change out the crank on that deal. But neither of us want another "hobby shop" that's going to need a new crank or anything like that.... so what do you guys think about that? Could it be the crank, or does it sound like the caps aren't tightened down to the right torque?
I apprecitae your help guys, as always!
P.S. Derek also mentioned in his ad for the car on Ebay that it might need a bearing shaved, a cap shaved, or a new crank. So I don't know if that helps decide the issue.
He said he figured the first time he tightened them down they were too tight because he had a hard time turning the engine over after he got everything back together on the bottom end. He then loosened up the the caps and the engine turned over just fine but then started knocking again. He doesn't have time to fix it because he's leaving for Iraq on the 15th of this month and I'm just worried that he might have a bigger problem than the caps being maybe too loose the last time he tightened them. I'm concerned that he might have a bad crank if thing is knocking, but then again maybe it IS that he just doesn't have the caps tightened down enough. I know the logical thing to do is have him find a torque wrench somewhere and torque them to the correct specs and see what happens afterwards but I don't think he's going to have the time to do it. And I frankly don't want to make the trade, and tow his car down to my place and find out it needs a new crank.
So does anyone think the crank could be bad. My dad is pressed on thinking it's bad since he had to touch the bearings in a new motor... but we had to change the bearings on my El Camino that has a new motor (350 block with a 383 Stroker kit and ALL kinds of "goodies" :****: ) because some idiot I had paint the car rev'd it really high on a cold start. That blew the rings on the #6 piston and made a few bearings wear down to the copper. We change out all the rings and all the bearings and the motor is perfectly fine now... so my dad knows that WE didn't have to change out the crank on that deal. But neither of us want another "hobby shop" that's going to need a new crank or anything like that.... so what do you guys think about that? Could it be the crank, or does it sound like the caps aren't tightened down to the right torque?
I apprecitae your help guys, as always!
P.S. Derek also mentioned in his ad for the car on Ebay that it might need a bearing shaved, a cap shaved, or a new crank. So I don't know if that helps decide the issue.
