rod bearing clearance help

[slantscamp]

hey guys. this is probably a dumb question. but here goes. i finally started to assemble my slant 6. i was checking all my clearances with plasti gauge today. my book says .0005 - .0015, but the plastigauge only list .0015 and then .002 and some other number no where close. 5 of my rod bearings measured .0015. but one of them was squished more than the rest. and it doesnt match anything on the plastigauge chart. i guess my question is. the more squished the plastigauge. the smaller the number. ( closer to .0005) because the clearance is less. is there another way i can measure this. and should i try switching bearings from another rod to make sure i just didnt get a bum bearing? i checked them all to make sure they have the same part numbers. i appreciate any help. thanks.
-aaron-

 

[demon seed]

hey guys. this is probably a dumb question. but here goes. i finally started to assemble my slant 6. i was checking all my clearances with plasti gauge today. my book says .0005 - .0015, but the plastigauge only list .0015 and then .002 and some other number no where close. 5 of my rod bearings measured .0015. but one of them was squished more than the rest. and it doesnt match anything on the plastigauge chart. i guess my question is. the more squished the plastigauge. the smaller the number. ( closer to .0005) because the clearance is less. is there another way i can measure this. and should i try switching bearings from another rod to make sure i just didnt get a bum bearing? i checked them all to make sure they have the same part numbers. i appreciate any help. thanks.
-aaron-

Yes the more squished the smaller the number. The only other way is to physically measure the rod journal with an outside mic and assemble the con rod and measure it with an inside mic. I usually use the same outside mic to measure what I get with the inside mic so your chance of screwup is lower. Basically I use the inside mic as a telescoping guage only more accurate.
Besides ask around cuss I've used .001-.003 plastiguage before.

terry

 

[OHD]

Buy a couple of pieces of 12 inch feeler gauge stock. .001 and .002

Cut about a .5 inch section out and put it on the crank ON ONE JOURNAL AT A TIME, with the bearings installed. Tighten that one main cap to full torque. spin the crank.

If it turns you have that much clearance. Repeat for each journal. You can get to .001 of accuracy. .001 .002 .003 etc is aval. Once the crank turns on every journal with the same number feeler stock, you are done, if above the min.

In your case get it to turn with .002

THIS METHOD IS MUCH MORE ACCURATE THAN USING THE GUESS YOUR BEST PLAYGAUGE.

Best way is to actualy measure, with accurate tooling.

If you can not get the crank to turn with .002 take the block and crank to someone who can measure and align hone to block to correct it.

 

[slantscamp]

thanks guys. i am going to work on it more tomorrow. i just got everything back from the machine shop, so it should be good. but mistakes can happen i guess.