Just spent the weekend under the car pulling the oil pan, oil pump,
thrust
washers, etc. for refurbishment of the bottom end on the TR6. I plan to
replace main bearing shells while there.
I do not know the history of the car prior to my ownership of 2 years,
so do
not know if main bearings have been replace before. There was quite a
bit
of silver/gray (bearing material) sludge in the very bottom of the pan
(maybe
an 1/8" or so of gunk), but the bearings themselves look pretty good.
Also
no thrust washers in the pan :-)) A small area of copper exposed on the
bearings, but no scoring on the shells or the crank journals (thank
goodness).
Here's my question - with the crank still in place, there's no way to
mic the
journals to check for wear. I plan to replace with std. size shells. How
best
to determine if there has been enough wear on the journals that std.
size
would not be appropriate? Use Plastigage to try to determine
approximate
clearance at the bearings? I know the allowable stock journal diameter,
but I
don't know what the i.d. of the std. bearing shells should be, how much
lubrication clearance, etc.
Any wisdom from the list??
Martin Libhart
1972 TR6
1970 Spitfire
|