Minor Disaster

Yeah, I Can Read

Big difference between 45 foot-pounds and 25.

In the postscript of our last posting I mentioned that upon the final torque of the rod bolts, a comedy of errors led to me breaking the first one I attempted. To complicate things, I couldn't replace the hardware and reinstall the piston without getting the machinist to recheck the big end of the rod for absolute round-ness (otherwise, it might be off a couple thousandths, which doesn't sound like a big deal, but it could actually destroy our newly machined crank, and possibly grenade the entire engine while it's running). So I pulled the piston, gathered up some of the other things slated to go to the shop anyway for cleaning (timing cover, oil pan, pulleys, balancer) and headed out to G&G in Rantoul.

Good News

Our machinist cracked a smirk but did not have too much fun at my expense when I told him my story of mischance. He was happy that I had the forethought to bring him a brand new pack of new rod bolts, and after taking a cursory look, told me he could just give it an install and hone, and we'd be good to go (*whew*).

Here's a take-away: I will probably never for the rest of my life forget the torque spec for the bottom end of a Ford smallblock Windsor. I'm pretty relieved that I won't have to pull apart everything to replace all the rods, a possibility for which I was preparing mentally.

More to come, when we get our parts back from G&G.