Progress finally: Rods installed on crank

[JonT]

After balancing the rods with their corresponding pistons all to within .1 grams and practicing with the old rod bolts and ARP stretch gauge, I felt comfortable enough to start this assembly. I re-watched the Pfixit video chapter on rod and crank assembly for the 5th time at least on they went.

The ARP instructions call for a .01 to .0105" using the stretch gauge. This required a relatively consistent 42-45 ft-lb's of torque using ARP rod bolt assembly lube. I started at 35 ft-lbs and worked my way up to final stretch every 5lbs switching back and forth between bolts. This was a little higher than the 40 ft-lbs spec if using the torque wrench and and not stretch gauge.

Question--I did get some lube in between the rod and cap it appears on some of them as the lube was squishing out of between upon torqueing. I assume this happened after applying lube to the threads then inserting the cap onto the rod. Is this a problem?

The rods all spin freely and smoothly around the crank but not so easy that if I lay the crank on its side they spin down. I used CRC engine assembly lube on the bearings with moly-graphite. Its fairly pasty so this could be keeping the rods from spinning more freely.

Does this dreadful feeling of second guessing everything ever go away?

[VFR750]

The beauty of stretching to a value is the preload is very consistent. Assembly torque is not "important" because friction variation changes the answer, but stretch is a fixed number.

For this reason, a little bit of squish out is likely irrelevant. Preload has been set. Oil film isn't strong enough to resist the stretch.

You could go back later to see if the stretch changed.

The assembly lube does cause drag. But as long as the rod drops unassisted you are ok. Mine did the same thing. I assume you already verified the rod to journal clearance is good.

[VFR750]

And no, second guessing lasts forever.

Keeps you focused on being patient, do over if you don't like it double check everything.

[Gordo2]

Originally Posted by JonT

Does this dreadful feeling of second guessing everything ever go away?

It goes away for a moment once it fires up and idles... For the first year - any odd engine sound (or smell that I though may be coming from the engine) made me think something I set something up wrong, or something came loose.

Finally the feeling started to diminish about a year after my rebuild and ~4k miles...

You are doing great work - the attention to detail will pay off.

Hang in there.

Gordo