Buick 455 Crankshaft Endplay

[ronbz455]

I'm building the 462 Buick again and checking endplay. The book says .003-.009. I have .005. I heard this is too tight for Drag Racing. What do you guys think?

 

[Fox80]

What are you running for a transmission?, a manual is harder on the trust bearing, most builders set it by what trans it has

 

[pontiacgp]

Manuals are too hard on the thrust bearing except on start up when the bearing is dry. It wasn't GM's brightest ideas to have the ignition switch tripped unless you had the clutch pedal depressed. Automatics put pressure on the bearing as well, the newer transmissions are giving the thrust bearings a problem with their increased forward pressure

 

[ronbz455]

It's a turbo 400 with a 5000 8" ATI stocker stall so it hits hard and pulls the front tires.

 

[ronbz455]

Here is a pic of the measurement.

 

[Fox80]

Totally agree with the above post, I would have told you .008-.010 from what I have done but i actually asked the friend of mine who does all my machine work, and is the only guy I would ever trust he said for street/strip 455 he would use .010-.012 based on the main journal size and the oiling system of Olds motors he does a large amount if Olds stuff, but you do with the info what you want, just make sure your bearing shells are all the way to one side when you are checking it

 

[ronbz455]

Yea a Buick Racer as myself said .008 but I will pm Jim Wiese and see if he says that.

 

[ronbz455]

Would the best way to do this is to take the 2 bearing halfs and put them together and rub them an a flat surface with sand paper in circles on each side and recheck?

 

[ronbz455]

Ok I hit the crank back and forth a couple of times and I got .007 so Im happy.

 

[Fox80]

Setting the shells both against one side of the cap is crucial, I've seen alot of guys sand the main only to find out they made it to wide, if you are happy with .007 then your set if you want to open it up 800 grit 3M wet or dry paper with WD-40 works the best, don't get carried away remember .002 is a sheet if paper sliced three times so its not much