Dear FOTers,
During all my decades of destroying these engine blocks, I never had any of
them checked for perfect alignment of the three main bearing caps, or bored
to make the alignment more accurate. Bob Criss, who made the run-offs
several times, told me that he does not try to correct his mains since the
three main engines are normally straight. Bob Stanford who raced a TR-3, and
then made the run-offs in a Morgan never line bored his blocks. Jack Wheeler
mentioned recently that one problem in doing this is that the front and rear
main caps will be too short making it hard to seal in the oil.
My thoughts are that if I measure the main journals of the crank with a
micrometer, and attempt to measure the ID's of the installed new bearings
with a dial bore gage, I may be able to determine the actual clearance
between the crank and bearings (with some practice). Should the mains be
slightly misaligned, the actual measured clearance will not be there.
I am looking for the thoughts and opinions of the list on the advantages and
disadvantages of line boring the three main blocks.
Thanks in advance,
Bill Emery
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