> Dick:
> yes: the bearing hole in your engine block or piston rod is a standard size
> so the OUTSIDE diameter of the bearings shell is always the same.
Fortunately, this is true for MGBs even when they've been align-bored.
Align-boring, for our friends not in the know (would that be OFNITK?),
is a method of ensuring absolute concentricity of all the main bearings
in an engine block. On the B, you shave a known quantity off each of
the bearing caps, install them in the block, and then run a very precise
tool down the center so that all the bearings are on an exact center.
The tool, however, can be set to the stock bore size of the main caps.
This helps smooth things out at high RPM. It's not expensive in and
of itself, as long as you've got the motor apart.
English Ford blocks, on the other hand, require you to run an oversized
tool down, as the main caps themselves have to be overbored when they
are align-bored. This means that on, say, a Lotus, you have to order
replacement bearings that are both oversize *and* undersize if your
block has been align-bored at some time. If you do this, save yourself
trouble, call directory assistance in the 510 area code and get them from
Hasselgren Racing Engines. The Vandervell distributor won't have them,
or at least didn't when I needed them for the Cortina-Lotus.
> Just before
> starting the engine prime the oil system(pump, filter, gallerys etc.)
Yes, do NOT omit this step or you run the risk of doing the bottom
end rebuild all over again.
To do this on a B, which has a very different distributor and oil
pump layout than a GT6, you just remove the lead from the coil and
crank the motor for 15 to 30 seconds, or till the oil pressure gauge
shows something. You can also pull the oil pressure gauge line off
the sending unit and have an unsuspecting assistant hold a finger
over it, then crank the motor. Big laffs when U. A. gets a face
full of Castrol.
> Your clearance is probably about ~.002 to ~.003
Actually, it's 0.001" to 0.0027" on a B's mains. My mains are still
right smack at 0.001", a fact that made me quite happy. Now all I
have to do is get the bearings in, torque everything down, put the
motor in the car and start that puppy up!
--Scott
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