Swapping engines

[LoneWolfGal]

Managed to pry the old bearing flange loose with two flat-blade screwdrivers and a lot of swearing. It was stubborn, I kid you not. What did I use to protect the crankcase from being gouged by the screwdrivers during the process? Popsicle sticks, the mechanic's friend.



The exposed bearing doesn't look too bad — so far.



Extracting it will have to wait until tomorrow, due to other demands on my time. The bearing puller is ready for action.

[Gilles]

This looks like a suspense movie, where you always want more... LOL Thank you for sharing! :-)

[LoneWolfGal]

Originally Posted by Gilles

This looks like a suspense movie, where you always want more... LOL Thank you for sharing! :-)

Wait until I get to the cam chain wear pads* ... then you'll see suspense.


*a.k.a. Variocam timing-chain guide-rail pilot ramps

[LoneWolfGal]

I finally found time to pull the bearing yesterday after dealing with other demands on my time, including taking a cat with cystitis to the vet. The bearing puller uses a 24mm nut, but my wrench set only went up to 18mm. Once again, a big metric crescent wrench saved the day. It required considerable force to remove the factory dual-row bearing, as Jake Raby warned. I was expecting to hear a gunshotlike **crack!** when the puller overcame the wire lock, but a soft metallic sigh was the only sound it made. What a gyp!



A couple ounces of oil seeped out of the hole when the bearing came out. I was prepared and caught it with an improvised catch basin. I'm going to send an oil sample to SPEEDynamix to be analyzed. It doesn't cost all that much and should be informative. An analysis can reveal an engine's entire history, according to oil expert Lake Speed, Jr., the man behind SPEEDynamix.



As expected, the bearing looked, sounded, and felt perfect. The bearing's wire lock did not break but remained intact.




Now I need to order the IMS Supplemental Toolkit from LN Engineering, necessary to install the Solution's bushing. (I've stopped calling it a bearing. It's a bushing, folks.) Renting the kit from LN is free for Solution buyers with a hefty deposit, $509.95 worth of hefty. (Which is interesting, in view of the Supplemental kit's list price of $299.) While I'm waiting for it to arrive I'll be busy, carefully measuring and marking the cutout for the notch, and then grinding, filing, and otherwise machining the notch itself. Photos to come. The next installment will also feature my patent-pending method for sealing the IMS opening to ensure that absolutely zero aluminum particles get in there while grinding. Stay tuned.

[tcoradeschi]

Originally Posted by LoneWolfGal

A couple ounces of oil seeped out of the hole when the bearing came out. I was prepared and caught it with an improvised catch basin. I'm going to send an oil sample to SPEEDynamix to be analyzed. It doesn't cost all that much and should be informative. An analysis can reveal an engine's entire history, according to oil expert Lake Speed, Jr., the man behind SPEEDynamix.

I will opine that to be marketing hype and nothing more. Oil analysis will give you a snapshot in time, so unless you’ve been collecting them periodically, there is no history to be had.

A couple of additional thoughts - if you really want to understand the oil, knowing what was put in the engine at the last change is critical and the number of miles since the last change is equally critical.

Now I need to order the IMS Supplemental Toolkit from LN Engineering, necessary to install the Solution's bushing. (I've stopped calling it a bearing. It's a bushing, folks.)

Erm. It’s a bearing. Not a rolling element bearing like the one you removed, but a journal bearing. No clue of the essential details of the LN design (dimensional, pressure in the feed line, etc), so I can’t comment on the actual hydrodynamics of it all (and, in the last 35 years, I’ve forgotten pretty much all of the detail I once knew). Unlike rod and crank mains, it sees no impact loads, so a much less complex problem set in that regard.

Lots of flashbacks to closed form calculations, using tensor notation, in that Lubrication Theory elective I took as a grad student. I’m imagining any number of quality software solutions are out there today to make that a whole lot easier to iterate on - LN still had to do the engineering, but the math is less drudgery.

[LoneWolfGal]

Originally Posted by tcoradeschi

Erm. It’s a bearing. Not a rolling element bearing like the one you removed, but a journal bearing.

Thanks for weighing in, Tom. I take it you disagree with Huyett that the taxonomy of bearings and bushings is somewhat ambiguous? Huyett and other bearing outlets have convinced me that classification is not cut and dried, so I'm backing off from my position. The Solution's design could be described as a type of bearing. Or a type of bushing. From here on in I will call it a bearing for the sake of clear communication.

Good points about oil analysis. Analyzing the sample I'm sending in can detect wear metals, fuel dilution, and other contaminants that indicate potential issues and reveal whether the engine has any ongoing problems, which is my primary concern.

[tcoradeschi]

Originally Posted by LoneWolfGal

Thanks for weighing in, Tom. I take it you disagree with Huyett that the taxonomy of bearings and bushings is somewhat ambiguous? Because Huyett and other bearing outlets have convinced me that classification is not cut and dried, I'm backing off from my position. The Solution's design could be described as a type of bearing. Or a type of bushing. From here on in I will call it a bearing for the sake of clear communication.

I do disagree with them. In this application, It’s a hydrodynamic bearing. There is a clearance between the OD of the shaft and the ID of the bearing. The oil which is pressure fed to it, given that clearance and the feed pressure, creates pressures internal to the bearing which are well in excess of what the feed pressure is, hence the term hydrodynamic. The same principle is at play in your mains, conrod big ends, camshafts (journals, not lobes), etc.

Good points about oil analysis. Analyzing the sample I'm sending in can detect wear metals, fuel dilution, and other contaminants that indicate potential issues and reveal whether the engine has any ongoing problems, which is my primary concern.

Please consider it a data point and nothing more. If the engine was run very briefly, that last time it ran, you will see fuel dilution numbers which are an artifact of a cold start (so over rich combustion) and quick shutoff, for instance. Note: I am a big fan of oil testing and have been doing it for years, across our small fleet of 2 & 4 wheeled vehicles.

[LoneWolfGal]

Since the bearing I'll be removing is a factory dual-row job, it doesn't have an external snap ring. It has an inaccessible wire lock and I hear tell it requires considerable force by the puller to break it. When it happens it's like a gunshot, they say. And the bearing will likely leave behind wire-lock remnants that'll need to be cleaned out, a job for my telescoping magnet. Hey, I'm looking forward to this episode.

After I get the bearing out and the opening sealed, I need to elevate the engine and slip two 2x8s under the sump cover, which will provide the clearance necessary to get my right-angle grinder under the bell housing. Most of grinding will be done from underneath, like in Raby's PCA video. It affords the clearest view of the cutout's outline as I'm working. I plan to take photos of the entire process — at the risk of documenting "... and here's where everything turned to **bleep**." But risk comes with the territory and I'm not a scaredy cat.