[Verdoro 68]

Received the King HP bearings, they look like jewelry compared to all the other sets of bearings I have. They're going to slightly open up my clearances to an average of .0026. Due to my journals being out of round (#3 journal is the worst) the clearance opens up to .0030 on on the passenger side of the journal. The #1 journal is also a little tighter in the front (.0020) vs the rear (.0024). Plastigage confirmed all my dial bore measurements, although not quite as accurate. I really regret not having the journals checked when it was in for machine work and wonder if it could be contributing to the way it's been eating rear mains. I guess we'll see. I double and triple checked the rear main sealing surface and the diameter of the seal. I'm spot in within the .025 -/+ .005 recommendation.

I figured this is all about as good as it's going get so I cleaned the crank really well, snaked the new seal on, dropped it in and torqued down the mains with the help of my son. I followed up by doing the same on the rods with a fresh set of Clevite bearings. I'm seeing about 22-25 ft/lbs to rotate the bottom end with everything torqued and assembly lube on the bearings. That's right in line with what it was the first time I put it together.

Anyway, some pics of the assembly and my bearing collection. I can say that I'm intimately familiar with this rotating assembly and block now. Thanks for hanging with me.