according to the crappy wrench i was using thats what it read.not sure if it was right or wrong.things have a funny way of happening.
It looks like you're getting some good advice. The torque on the rod bolts and main caps should never ever ever affect the bearing clearance. The load path for the bolts does not go through the journal. The bearings really shouldn't "crush" either. You should have a couple of thousandths clearance between the bearings and the rods/crank so they can ride on a thin film of oil and never touch the bearings. They will seat though the first time you torque them down. The best way to do it is to torque down the rods and mains without the crank, then use a bore gauge to check the diameter, then mic the OD of all the crank journals. Hopefully, your rods and mains are a little bigger than your crank. I agree with Jaime and the others. You either have a bad starter or a bad battery. Even though the battery came out of a vehicle that started every day, it might not have the capability to crank for a long time and still hold a charge. I had a car like that. If it didn't hit right away then I had to jump it. I would change the battery first, since the starter does engage and spin. The only time I've had a starter not want to turn is when they get really hot from sitting next to a header all day. I would carry a jug of water in the back to "cool" the starter if it acted up. I'm not a red neck, I just have red neck tendencies. LOL! Even with my high torque starter it still struggled when it got really hot. If the engine is actually locked up, the cables will start to smoke and get really really really hot.
Starter is hung-up. Pull it off and hook a pair of jumper cables and a battery to it and double check it is no good. ATO described it better than I could the first time. Bearing crushes just a couple of thousandths to keep tight in the rod - there should be no cantact with the crank. Thats what I was trying to say about the cap bottoming out on the rod. I'm worried about your rod bolts. 55 lbs definately overstretched them. It would be a big gamble to ignore it. (My opinion). Find out EXACTLY how far your torque wrench is off before pulling anything. If it's really that far off - toss the wrench as far down into the nearest woods or lake as you can. It will make you feel better and your tool box will be better off with it gone. Harbor Freight and precision tools - NOT. Cleaver
don't know about that one when i first went to fire it,the motor would not even move!loosened up the mains/rods and everything rotated fine.torqued them back down,and everything froze again.battery is not dead,i am using the battery out of my daily driver truck.plus i have a charger hooked up on "quick start"
maybe autozone gave me the wrong bearings?thats my next idea.everything was stamped standard,but you never know with those guys.
i think you may have a bad bearing or two some of them cheapOs are not true could be thick on one end
My vote is the starter - the engine spins ok with plugs out - and acts like a dead battery with plugs in. Bad armature ??
thats what i'm thinking.must have been made on a friday or monday! i normally use cleavite or sealed power,but they were out of stock on both,so i tried these.shame on me.
If you type that part # in your search engine it shows up as a Clevite bearing. Even Summit has that # listed. Maybe Hi-Tech is a division of or vice versa ???
ok my starter has a lifetime warrenty.going to swap that out along with a new selonoid.if that doesn't solve the problem,time to pull all the bearings,and replace.i'll post what the out come is.thanks to everyone for all the help and suggestions,chuck.
