torquing bearing caps

[alesserfate]

s14 sr20det

was doing metal headgasket, and had the need to pull out one piston/rod assembly for inspection via undoing the bearing cap

I checked the fsm torque spec for the bearing caps is 28-33ft-lbs, should I just torque them to 31 and forget about it ? is there anything else to this ? put motor oil on the bearing and stud ? any experienced advice ?

thanks

[bardabe]

make sure your torque wrench is calibrated, use some assembly lube, DO NOT! hit or tap the crank with any part of the rod or the rod bolts / studs. I always use a vacuum line / cap at the end of the rod studs too keep from touching / scratching the crank surface, also be sure to use the same bearings and caps you took from the spot that they are back in the same spot. or get new bearings since you are already there.

[TheWolf]

That torque is pretty low. 28-32 is the range. Anywhere in that will be fine. Make sure the cap is not on backwards. There are numbers on the side of the cap that line up with the rod. If you can't see them then look at the cap. The tang that locates the bearing. The upper rod has a tang as well. It will have left a ghost impression aka a witness mark on the cap. Line up the tangs then to the correct side and install. You want to make sure it torques even so just snug up one side then snug up the other then torque one side then torque the other. So you don't have the cap on cockeyed and a false torque on one of them.

[alesserfate]

Ok I understand it for the most part; however, say I wanted to change out one of my rods and have a spare rod from another exactly the same motor. Would I go and take the two rod-crank bearing pieces, and swap them from current rod and cap that I don't want anymore and onto the new rod and cap that I want to use ? Or is it ok to use the bearings that are already in the other rod/cap from the other motor, I would assume not ok to do that because they are worn in to the different crank ?

[kingkilburn]

I don't think that would be a good idea. The bearings will have worn differently and if you need to replace one rod/bearing you will more than likely need to replace all of them.