Berrie Watson (ADM) wrote:
> pull it down, and thus free the crankshaft to turn. The big question is,
> now that it has been freed, it is INCREDIBLY hard to turn. My experience
> is that 1) with no spark plugs in and 2) transmission disengaged - it
> should be fairly easy to turn. Have I destroyed my crankshaft or
> camshaft? I have done all work with the engine in the car- and never
> touched the camshaft (and therefore disturbed no timing).
>
> My questions are:
>
> Have I destroyed my beautiful engine?
>
> How is it possible to have this problem? Do I have the Pistons in wrong,
> or the big end bearing caps on wrong?
>
> If I manage to solve this conflict, have my bearings been destroyed, or
> should I still try to free up the tight crankshaft by trying to turn it?
>
> Any comments are appreciated. I feel like this MG has turned into a
> financial black hole, and am afraid that I may get bad advice from a
> mechanic....
>
Berrie,
All may not be lost. You DID put some sort of lubricant on the
bearing surfaces before you tightened down the caps. Didn't you? The dry
friction is very difficult to overcome. I'd suggest that you take the
caps back off and but on a coat of some lubricant before you put the
caps back on. There are lubricants especially designed for this purpose.
NAPA carries it in plastic tubes with snip-off ends. It's stocked by the
bearings. Another substance that works is Lubriplate. Still another is
STP. When you have the caps off make certain that all of the bearings
are 'keyed' in properly so that none have rotated out of position. If
you haven't rotated the crank dry, you should be okay.
Bud Krueger
52TD
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