kwakman

After connecting my rod caps with new ACL bearings on the crank pins, certain rods felt stickier than others after being oiled and torqued up. Removing the caps again, the bearings show faint silver marks as though a small amount of the surface finish has been removed. Is this normal, will the bearings run-in when they get an oil supply or has something sinister happened?

Cheers

Andy

R19KET

Andy,

Assuming you've checked the crank journals, it's possible that the rod big ends have distorted. It would be worth getting them checked, but they can be re-circled. It would also be worth plasti-gauging rods to crank (+ mains) to check the actual clearances.

If you go this route, make sure the set are re-balanced too.

Alternatively, it may be worth considering the latest STi rods, which use the more recognisable rod bolts, and are relatively cheap.

Mark.

kwakman

Hi Mark

I did plastigauge it all, all within tolerance. I even put the plastigauge around the crank pin in question to check for ovalling, it all checked out fine.

When I say sticky, I mean there was slightly more resistance to movement in some of the rods compared to others. They all fell under their own weight when I picked the crank up with them attached. I may be worrying about nothing here (hopefully).

Cheers

Andy

R19KET

It's not uncommon to get some differences. It's hard to say if they are ok for sure, without seeing them.

It would still be worth checking the rod BE for roundness, if you're not sure, because plastigauge won't necessarily show this.

Mark.

kwakman

OK Mark, thats what i wanted to hear, I'll baby it on the run-in anyway to loosen it all up. I measured everything I could find with a digital vernier (good to about 0.01mm) and everything looked to be spot on.

Im putting pistons in bores even as we speak.