[Shotimes] Re: Plastigage

[Bruce Malachuk]

Just plastigauge'd an enging that was out on a stand. Everything was withing
the tolerances per ford, but one was .0022 and the rest were around .0017 or
so. Granted that the Ford rod bearings are supposed to be a little tighter,
and we checked them with standard size Clevite SHO bearings. If I were
building up an engine out of the car, I can't see not taking the extra 30
min total to plastigauge the engine to make sure all is good. Hell I'll have
the crank ground down when I build up a really nice motor this fall/winter. 


Bruce J Malachuk

*	94 Opal Frost MTX 
*	93 Emerald Green MTX 
*	93 Black ATX - parts 
*	95 Silver Frost ATX SE - SLO 


-----Original Message-----
From: shotimes-admin@autox.team.net [mailto:shotimes-admin@autox.team.net]
On Behalf Of MonsieurBoo@aol.com
Sent: Monday, April 19, 2004 8:16 AM
To: shotimes@autox.team.net
Subject: [Shotimes] Re: Plastigage

"Many people with cars this old wouldn't spend the time and money it would
take to remove the crank, have it ground, replace it, and bother with the
oversized bearings."

Some of us with cars three or four times as old might very well do exactly
that, but that's a different story isn't it ;-)

"Most just take their chances with replacing the bearings and hoping all's
well.  That seems to be the consensus from what I've heard."

Well, hope springs eternal.  For me it's more a matter of having a certain
degree of peace of mind, or lack of it.  Considering the relatively minor
extra time and effort, I'd rather know if it's getting borderline -- let
alone beyond borderline even with new bearings.  At that point, whether I
baby it or just have fun with it until it grenades, at least I can make a
semi-informed decision and plan ahead to deal with the inevitable.  Helps
keep me from ending up parked on the shoulder 30 miles south of Bumf,
Montana on Sunday night with a bunch of crankcase confetti trailing down the
road behind me.

Cheers,
Mark LaBarre
94 ATX 125k
55 Chev Panel Truck
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