Progress. Picked up all four colours of Plastigage from the local Napa as I had no idea which colour I needed. Turns out it's green. Flipped the upper case upside-down and onto a milk crate -
installed the new yellow bearing shells into the lower case -
cleaned the journals and then lowered the crank into the upper case -
cut the plastigage and placed a length across each main journal -
then lowered the lower case onto the upper, making sure not to move the crank while I was at it. Torqued the crankcase bolts in sequence to spec, then removed them, and then lifted the lower case back off and checked the plastigage -
0.051mm or 0.002". Right at the looser end of spec, which is what I was expecting/hoping to see given that the bearing shells I chose (the yellows) should be the loosest. Just to recap, I chose (was advised to use) yellows as I could no longer see the colour on the shells that needed replacing. 2 were showing copper so I decided to change all 5 lower case bearings.
Hoping that means I'm in the clear as far as clearances go on the main journals - tomorrow I'll check the crankpin and con rod clearances.
installed the new yellow bearing shells into the lower case -
cleaned the journals and then lowered the crank into the upper case -
cut the plastigage and placed a length across each main journal -
then lowered the lower case onto the upper, making sure not to move the crank while I was at it. Torqued the crankcase bolts in sequence to spec, then removed them, and then lifted the lower case back off and checked the plastigage -
0.051mm or 0.002". Right at the looser end of spec, which is what I was expecting/hoping to see given that the bearing shells I chose (the yellows) should be the loosest. Just to recap, I chose (was advised to use) yellows as I could no longer see the colour on the shells that needed replacing. 2 were showing copper so I decided to change all 5 lower case bearings.
Hoping that means I'm in the clear as far as clearances go on the main journals - tomorrow I'll check the crankpin and con rod clearances.