Calling you back with the real answers you are looking for (I think) - bearing clearances were .0025 on the rods and .0031 on the mains. Those were taken with a dial bore gauge and a micrometer.
Instead of using like an HX bearing - the bearing housing bores were oversized to: mains .0018 over and the rods were +.0008 over. Crank measured: mains 2.749 and rod journals 2.1998.

I do have oil temp and pressure gauges. 70 psi normal running. Oil temps were always around 185-190. I never ran the boat over 5000rpm.

Oil was changed 4 times in the 20 hrs - it never smelled burned, and there was no burnt oil smell when dismantling it.

I guess i need to ask - is this something I did wrong?

What parts?

Clevite 77 B-1 bearings
clevite H bearings
Manley Rods
Morel Lifters
JE/SRP Pistons
Cranks were not out of round, tapered or worn.

I didn't choose the parts - left that to the expert I paid.

Forgot, Side clearance on the rods: .0240

is the crank old school cross drilled?

all good parts,and clearance,s all good.oil pressure&temp good,and changed oil more then enough.what does your engine builder think went wrong?

Is this an N/A motor ?

i don't like running 50wt oil, cold and thick oil will do same as no oil. it needs to flow to get into bearing surfaces. the forward bevel can also pick up oil in bearings and push the oil back into oil passage instead of onto bearing surface. i consider 50wt to be oil towards end of usable engine life, thats from 30+ years of working on engines.

well... another mystery. everything is correct. the parts are good, the clearences acceptable. it was assembled by a skilled professional and it never ran higher than normal cruise speed at perfect temps and pressures yet the bearings in the rotating assy are scrap in very short order.

for me, it is hard to accept that the bearings are turning to scrap with perfect temps and pressures or any other meaningful symptoms...

i guess all i would ask at this point is if these were new assemblies or pre esisting rebuilds...

He paid for new parts. What he got in return.......:poopoo::poopoo:. I was burned by a local mechanic in named David Pou at DP Marine in Hilton SC. Beware!!:poopoo: (fitting name). After phucking with the heads and intake I assumed there would be problems in the block. Suprise suprise.....

The motors were N/A.

Once again, the crank was reused it had just under 100 hrs on it. He madde the decision to reuse it. Everything else was new. He did all the machine work.

I know it seems really hard to believe these ground troughs could be the culprit...huh.

In looking for someone to build my new motors, 2 of the 3 engine builders said the cranks were scrap and they would never do that - one said they wouldn't do it that way, but they were not ruined.
I am waiting on some information from the clevite engineers, but it seeems that the engineers that design and work with cranks everyday would know what they are talking about. If this modification was a good idea - don't you think it would be incorporated into every crank produced - maybe even one. I can't find any mfg who makes a crank with some grinding across the oil holes in the main and rod journals.

Moving on here are pictures of after the one time we took it to 5000rpm. Oil blowing out of the seal at the rear china wall. Left the paint on china wall and the sealant never bonded. Paint peeled off and leak started. Talk about surprised.

More intake coming off

More

Inside the intake, good thing I took a look. Really good thing none of this ended up in the motor.

:eek: holy crap yankey... I had no idea it was that bad... Are you going to pursue it in court?

The burnt bearings are from having too tight of clearance on the bearings.

the little valleys that are ground into the oil galleys on the crank are to supply more oil to the bearings at high RPMs - they're good.

If those cam shafts are Comp Cams . . . they had lots of batches that went out that were not hardened correctly, and they would flake off, pit, and kill the rollers on the lifters. Yours look as if they're starting to do that also.

post #29 of the cam, pic # DSC00845 - that's a noticable dent in the cam lobe

Those lifter pics . . . the damage on them can come from the cam falling appart, and or too much or too little pre-load

Thats what I'm thinking, it looks like the oil got too hot. Thats why i was asking about the routing of the oil lines. is it possible the oil is by passing the chiller? Also if your using an aftermarket oil manifold and the stock merc cap the oil will bypass the filter and the cooler because of the holes in the cap

in a previous post i asked what brand of oil ,no response yet,also asked if gellner did these engines,again,no response,i have never seen a engine shop,s name on a crankshaft like that before,its pretty obvious who your engine guy is,so why are you not saying who built these engines?if a lawsuit ends up happening over this deal,im sure these pictures will be used as evidance.again i will ask,what does your engine builder have to say,as im sure you spoke with him before posting on oso.

I am far from an expert but as others stated those look like good numbers.

My only question is where was the oil temp sensor? Maybe it was giving lower readings that what you were actually running?

What's the milkshake in the back of the lifter valley?

There is no lawsuit...what would I get? i just want to put it all behind me.

Only an opinion, but it looks like the intake was leaking,

Penzoil 20w-50 exactly what I was told to use by the builder. Why does it matter so much who did these? If you really want to know it doesn't take much to figure it out. When I contacted him with all the problems, he called bull**** - said that someone is ****ing me - never even asked to see a picture of anything. Again no lawsuit, what the **** would that get me? I've already lost 2 years of boating, the bull**** trying to get them complete, and now basically all the money spent. I never dreamed all this would be wrong when someone with reputation did the work. To me it's over now. Just showing what I found, and my final ****ing on this whole deal.

The temp sender was in the oil filter head. The block off plate was brand new from hardin marine - and again no bypass. For the first 6 hours I had a brand new teague 3"x18" cooler - the last 14 hrs it was a hardin 13 plate remote cooler. Plenty of cooling - no bypass.

I guess I need to ask: some people say the bearing clearance was perfect, now it is too tight.

Cranks have been taken out of the trash and are for sale since they are good. $200.00 each. :eekdrop:

Looks like some water got through the silicone reinforced torn gasket that was intalled by the builder when the paint on the china wall failed.

But I'm sure you can correct that for me, and figure out how it's my fault the gasket was torn and siliconed.

On one of your post you said" instead of using Hx bearings the HOUSINGS were bored bigger" are you saying the main bores and rod big ends were opened up to gain bearing clearence?

Listen, the milkshake in the lifter valley could have come from a bad intake seal. Is that your fault, NO... Who's is it, I don't know but I'm giving you advice on the other site and you think I'm just bashing you...

Your bearings could have been f'ed up from having water in the engine.. how's that?

But wait, I'm just saying it's all your fault... whatever..

I asked the same question on another site and he didn't answer me. Some people prefer not using HX bearings. So long as the crank radius isn't extreme, you don't need an HX bearing.

What was the original complaint? What prompted you to do a leakdown on a 20hr engine? What did you find during the leak down test to warrant the tear down?

Yes.

And Panther, I will apologize there are tons of questions I am trying to answer, and provide anything anyone is asking for. Every once in a while the question comes while I'm typing, and don't even see them.

I will also apologize for being a dick to you. You just made a comment that really rubbed me the wrong way, and the wound from this is still a little raw. Again I am sorry.

My wife and I decided to do something different. I was going to sell these complete (no idea they had any issue) - the build was a complete nightmare, and I always just had a bad taste in my mouth. Kinda like something left over and lingering from a really bad break-up.

I have had them checked, and serviced by somebody very qualified, and this stuff surprised him also...maybe even more from than me.
Anyway, I was asked about a leakdown test, so when they had time i had a leakdown done. I need to double check my notes, but all cylinders leaked down at 8-14% with the exception of one at upper 20%, one at like 42% and another at 90%. I'll follow-up with the accurate information.

yes he did but it was only like 1/2 a 1/10th ( assuming measured correctly)

it all just looks exactly like tight clearences and the oil 300 degrees in the shells... but that's not what he says the numbers are ... the clearences he quotes are ok ...

didn't some of these 540 kits have an issue with radii at the rod journals and needing the rod bearings radiused to match ? but that wouldn't explain the mains looking like they do...

Why did you pull them apart? Because of the leak down test?

I will assume you are not insinuating something. Not for sure what kit you are saying was used. Are you needing me to double check dimensional data - because you don't trust my measuring or think I am incompetent? Do you want me to have a third party check it again? Will you help pay the bill? I've hemorrhaged enough money on these things already. I am taking donations for my happiness - I will set up an easy way to give.:ernaehrung004:

Back to info.
First motor cold leakdown was between 8% and 14%. Next motor cyl 3 had a 44%, cyl 5 had the 90% and cyl 4 had the 26% - all others were around 8-10%.
Pulled the 1/7 head no detonation or burning. tore down the head, the valve seats looked "beat" on one side - literally like forging metal. Took the questionable valve and checked it in the valve grinder - Bent. Had the head set up in a VGS 20 (Sunnen) and found out the seats were not concentric with the guides. That's when checked all vales and seats. Every single valve was bent from pounding on these non concentric guides. All the guides were bellmouthed. these were brand new heads - then according to my bill, they were disassembled and checked by the builder and rebuilt.

This is how we got to the bottom end. Pulled the piston to check and make sure there was not a broken ring or any other issue with the #5 cylinder that leaked down at 90%. That is how the worn bearing was discovered. That is when I noticed the modified crank.

I think that explains how I got from a leakdown to completely taken apart.

You know any one of these issues after 20 hours of running sucks and is unacceptable (but **** happens), but this total pile of **** in 20 HOURS is absolutely ****ing ridiculous.

If you only knew the half of getting to this point.:eekdrop:

I at least thought I had some high quality motors after all the bull**** I put up with. Ha... This is what I am left with.

Wouldn't this be a lot easier for me to say everything was wrong, and the guy who built them was a moron? I at least can be honest, report the findings as they are and give him credit for the things that were right.

yes it is obvious who built these engines,does it matter who did them?not to me,i do my own and many for others,the reason i asked is if he is having trouble,maybe a employee fuccing up,other possible customers should be informed,so they dont have same problem as you.my heart bleeds for you,i feel your pain.bye the way,il take those cranks for 200.each.

no, not insinuating anything but can only work with data provided . to me , 4500 miles away looking at pictures, the indications are what i mention. i simply compare that with the data provided and my conclusion is not supported by the data provided. so one of the two is wrong. it would have been "better" if you had taken it apart and found all the clearences really tight . then there would be a failure caused by an quantified fault. that is apparently not the case here.

you report :

good parts. professional assembly, no abuse, good clearences,
machine work within tolerance, and good temps and pressures with the result being scrap bearings and a leakdown like the rings were left on the bench.

simply makes no sense to me. nothing happens for no reason.

Cranks - They are yours. Send me a PM.

This would be a whole lot easier if there was a very clear and easy answer. I can't stress enough that the pictures just dont capture all the detail, and you are definitely hadicapped just being able to look at the pictures.

No one has an opinion on the torn gasket or even the gasket choice and all that silicone in a brand new motor built by a professional. Did anybody notice the signs of the combustion gas in the intake? Not one comment on the casting material left in the intake to break off and get sent into a brand new motor. No one has asked about spring pressures and the lofting of the lifters on the cam, or the bores for the lifters.

Oh yeah, I have some #4603 Morel HR lifters and Crane Cams for sale...dirt cheap.

GP commented on your intake gasket as did I above and on the other site. I prefer using Mr. Gasket Ultra Seal gaskets but that doesn't mean the wrong gasket was used.

Casting material, maybe sloppy but not gonna blow your engine. The question would be if the heads were prepped or ordered from Dart as is and bolted on. Would need to see your build sheets.

Oil leak on the back of the intake is one of the most common oil leaks in a BBC. I've fought oil leaks in that area for years. One time I even used 5200 to stop the leak, it was the only thing that worked.

He bought complete heads from Dart - then charged to disassemble, inspect and reassemble. Didn't get my money's worth there.

Got the information back from the bearing engineer - won't waste time with a whole lot of facts, but in his words, "you had a recipe for disaster".

Here's a guess for you, leaking intake gaskets caused several cylinders to run lean and detonate. This beat the head gaskets out between the cylinders and caused your poor leakdown test. Water and or gas contamination of the oil took out your cam, lifters and bearings. PS. Your intake gaskets look like Sh!t.