Critical juncture in ABA rebuild - frozen crank (WTF?)

[ats at longcoeur.com (Patrick Bureau)]

I encountered this while rebuilding the 1.8 in the 86, I bet you the crank
bearings are not all the same. Take them apart and check the sizes..

I had ordered from JC Whitney (I know I know had to try..never again) a OEM
STD set of main bearings, and it turned out in the wrap (not a mix up on my
part, half (so 4 out of 8 bearings) where .25" size.

Your saying that with piston 1 and 4 in it was fine then check the piston
bearins 2-3.

STOP trying to turn that thing... Take it apart and inspect your bearings, 

The cranks/;pistons should trun just fine no need for a 2x4 to turn the
crank.... 19mm ratchet with all 4 pistons on there turns the crank with
pistons just fine... If it is "hard" to turn, your bitting in metal.

Fix it!
-
ATS - Patrick Bureau - http://ats.longcoeur.com
ATS A1 Parts eBay Sales - http://tinyurl.com/22e5b 

->-----Original Message-----
->From: scirocco-l-bounces@scirocco.org 
->[mailto:scirocco-l-bounces@scirocco.org] On Behalf Of Jeff Toomasson
->Sent: Monday, April 26, 2004 8:59 PM
->To: scirocco-l@scirocco.org
->Subject: Critical juncture in ABA rebuild - frozen crank (WTF?)
->
->I've been on the precipice of tightening my crankshaft 
->sprocket - so most of you can imagine how far I am into this saga.
->
->A few days ago I tried to tighten the sprocket bolt and 
->finally got the crank to turn when I was half way through my 
->90-degree additional turn. I thought this was odd, but just 
->attributed it to the snug fit of the piston rings. But it 
->still turned though so I wasn't worried. I just figured the 
->rings needed to get seated and that would happen when I fired it up...
->
->Today I went to tighten the sprocket bolt again prepared to 
->brace the crank using a 2x4 (thanks for the tip, Ron!), but I 
->could get it all the way through the 90-degree turn this time 
->and then some!
->
->The left side of my brain says somethings f*cked up in there 
->and I need to tear it apart, but the right side says it's 
->just the rings and they'll pop in once I start it (though 
->that event isn't for 3-5 months!!).
->
->I know either way it's the rings because the damn thing spun 
->perfectly with little effort when only pistons 1 and 4 were 
->installed. But is this something that's life-threatening?? (I 
->think I know the answer but I need to hear it from someone else...)
->
->Background:  I used a synthetic paint brush to coat the bores 
->with 20w50 before installing the rods and pistons. All 
->bearing surfaces received Redline Assembly Lube.
->
->Thanks for any input - Jeff
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