Quote:
Originally Posted by Cliff R
NOT a fan of messing with the mains in any fashion. These blocks are extremely rugged and it's rare to have to mess with the mains unless you are having aftermarket 4 bolt main caps installed.
I test mine by installing the crankshaft w/o a rear seal in place. If it turns easily with two fingers after everything is torqued to spec it's good to go. 99 percent of the engines I've done here have passed that test. IF I had a "tight spot" or the crank turned hard or showed witness marks on a bearing or bearings the build would go another direction.....FWIW.....
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Cliff, with all due respect I do not agree. I have machined 6,000 blocks. Out of that 6,000 blocks roughly 20% didn’t need an align hone. The 6,000 includes blocks with far stronger bottom ends than Pontiacs. 6.9:/7.3 IDI blocks and 7.3 PowerStroke blocks have massive steel main caps and incredibly thick main saddles but most of the blocks I saw needed an align hone due to distortion of the iron. The cam tunnels were absolute nightmares on many of these blocks. I do like your idea on checking main saddle alignment. It’s similar to the “go/no go” gauge bars we used.