What would cause this weird bearing wear?

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DartVadar

DartVadar

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So I am about to get ready to put my motor back together, and want to fix all the mistakes that I made the first time. One of those mistakes seems to have been a mistake when measuring the bearing clearance, I thought I did it right and that I had enough clearance, but I think it was a bit tight (I think anyways). But that doesn't matter anymore as new bearings are going in and the crank was turned, Ill just be more careful about measuring the clearance!

I never thought about this until a while ago, but the pictures are the main bearings, the rod bearings don't look like that, they seemed fine (replacing them anyways). There is copper showing very slightly on the edges, but opposite of each other. So copper shows on the top right on one side and copper shows bottom left on the other. What would cause this? bad crank journal, out of alignment main cap? Bend crank? The block was line honed and mains were checked so the block should be good, the main caps also fit very snugly in place, they are not loose at all. I was looking on the bearing analysis that clevite has and I think the most similar is the "out of shape journal."

With those bearings the crank was only polished, otherwise it was completely stock (checked over though) When I installed the cranks and mains I followed the instructions in the manual about how to properly seat them as well, I think that is mainly for the thrust bearing though.

The picture of the two bearings together is just one I found on the internet, its not mine, I just wanted to show what mine kinda look like, but to a much lesser degree. The front rear bearings didn't look like that, only the middle three did.
 

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Looks like lack of lubrication on initial startup.
 
DartVadar said:
Dont know how I would have messed that up. I primed the oil pump before starting for quite some time and had oil pressure on the gauge.
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Did you put assembly lube on the bearings?
 
How about a picture of the new assembly, on the mock up assembly? { don't forget, crank thrust endplay. ) Make it ,proper, do the research.....
 
Abodybomber said:
How about a picture of the new assembly, on the mock up assembly? { don't forget, crank thrust endplay. ) Make it ,proper, do the research.....
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I haven't even started mocking things up, I need to pressure wash the crap out of it first to make sure it's all clean before I do anything. It's just on a stand, but I had thrust endplay good last time, the thrust surface looked perfect. I checked that too. I'll post some pictures when I start though.

Just wondering if I have an issue that should be addressed, because that wear seems odd to me.
 
DartVadar said:
I haven't even started mocking things up, I need to pressure wash the crap out of it first to make sure it's all clean before I do anything. It's just on a stand, but I had thrust endplay good last time, the thrust surface looked perfect. I checked that too. I'll post some pictures when I start though.

Just wondering if I have an issue that should be addressed, because that wear seems odd to me.
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Without the disassemble pics,who knows ,what you have? Mock it up,take at least some green Plastgage readings.....
 
Okay I understand, I'll post the plasti guage readings once I start on it in a few days. I have a few pictures of what the crank looked like and a few others I'll try and find though.
 
looks like dirt and grime left over from aline boring the block, dirt in block oil passages or in crankshaft oil passages.
 
You said that the block was line honed. Was that before this happened or now during this rebuild?

Ted
 
bearings look too tight; improper lubrication at startup. Use a good engine assy lube. a coating of oil is insufficient.
 
That looks like a lack of lube like RRR said, and not debris marks.
 
So there are a few issues that I know of. One of those is there was constantly little pieces of copper in the oil, slowed down as I changed the oil, but I figured it out once I took the heads off. It goes back to the issues with ootb eddy heads, the springs gouged into the little copper shim under the spring that should have been a hardened cup or something, one bearing actually had some pieces of crap on them and stuck in the tangs, not going to blame the heads completely though, Im not sure where the rest of the crap came from, thought I was really clean when I put it together.

All this happened after the line hone, and the motor is a 360 with about 3k miles on it, I know with that little miles the bearings should NOT look like that. I looked more into it and I dont actually think that my crank was even polished, I looked at my receipts and found nothing for that, but it was really nice when I got it (I thought), and I doubt it was done for free lol

The bearings could be too tight, I have no idea how that happened there though, I measured with plastigauge, but mustn't have done something right (first time ever using it).

When I put it together I just used engine oil, and before I started it I primed the oil pump. I wasn't aware that I needed to coat the bearings with more than that. Would cleaning the hell out of the block/crank, using the right assembly lube and ensuring that the bearing clearance is enough after the crank was turned fix the issue?

Thought I was really careful with this build, I guess not though, was my first time building a motor.

Now just to remind you guys the third picture is NOT mine, only the first two are, I just used that picture I found to easier see the wear pattern that I am talking about.
 
Plastigauge and assembly lube a must on all the bearings is how I was taught a long time ago. Oil can leak out before initial startup your when likely to wipe out the bearing overlays. Assembly lube will stay longer.
 
I can't remember the name of the lube I use but it's a dark red color and I have never had a issue with it.

Now you got me worried about my eddy heads though :(
 
Going back the the crank install. when you bolted down all the cap's and then turned the crank to install the rods did you need a bar to turn the crank (to tight.no oil clearance) or just use a screw driver or maybe just by hand with a little restriction.
 
Daves69 said:
Plastigauge and assembly lube a must on all the bearings is how I was taught a long time ago. Oil can leak out before initial startup your when likely to wipe out the bearing overlays. Assembly lube will stay longer.
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That would make sense, I can see engine oil not staying very long.

doogievlg said:
I can't remember the name of the lube I use but it's a dark red color and I have never had a issue with it.

Now you got me worried about my eddy heads though :(
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Its not just cam lube is it? and if your heads are working good now I'm sure you are fine, only reason I took this motor apart was because I had a lame hole.

Jimmyrigged said:
Going back the the crank install. when you bolted down all the cap's and then turned the crank to install the rods did you need a bar to turn the crank (to tight.no oil clearance) or just use a screw driver or maybe just by hand with a little restriction.
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The crank turned really nicely, I could easily spin it by hand, and if I spun it quickly It would continue spinning for another half revolution or so.
 
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