For those of you that are not familiar with bearing fitment here are some explanations:
These pictures are the pictures of the upper and lower rod bearings that were removed from rods 1-6 and are numbered such. Each one has the thickness written beside it with the first decimal place omitted ie 620 means .0620". They are clearly in the range of the normal specification for +1 bearings.
The seventh pic is of the number 2 and 3 crank journals showing no damage or signs of distress or heat discoloration. I did not remove the 1 or 4 crank bearings or the upper bearings on 2 and 3 since doing so would have required removal of the front cover and resealing the rear main which would have resulted in much more expense and time. Since the lower 2 and 3 crank bearings are always the ones that have the most problems (thats why we put steel caps in this location) it would have been a useless exercise to check the upper halves since all the real stress is on the lower shells. Picture 8 is of the lower main bearings removed from the 2 and 3 caps.
These are the pictures that Ron Mooney says he has never seen even though he was handed them and had them explained to him.
Pics 1-6 show upper and lower rod bearings with absolutely no signs of physical damage or heat discoloration which is always present when there is rod knock damage. Standard bearings usually deviate in new sets from .0612 to .0616 and +1 bearings usually deviate from .0618 to .0621. Plus 1 bearings were used in this engine due to the crank journals being slightly on the low side of the spec. I always select bearings to achieve an assembled clearance between .0018 to .0022 on both rods and mains. When i get a chance I will post the actual dimensions of all 6 rod journals and 4 main journals with the actual clearances that were in the finished engine.
I always do my journal and bearing size measurements with a MIT/Starrett snap gauge and Starrett digital micrometer. Both of these devices read to 5 decimal places and I frequently check them with Meyer double X plug and ring gauges.
IMO you really don't need to defend yourself at this point. It is obvious Ron's only motive here is to smear you not get his car fixed. We are all human and even if you did screw one together wrong I don't think any of us believe for a second you wouldn't have been the first to try and make it right. Some people are just beyond reach.
Ron, more than enough qualified people in this thread have offered to help you fix the problem yet all you do is rant about the supposed problem and your bill which IMO was cheap. Why don't you try to get your car fixed and work with people instead of bitching and complaining?
Check the oil pressure, cut open the filter, if there is a problem with what RCG did you will know instantly. A bad bearing or a camshaft that is eating a lifter make a pretty serious mess and the filter will be full of shit. If you have a clean filter and the motor has oil pressure then the internals are probably not your problem.
If thats all good run the motor without the accessory belt, check the TQ conv and flexplate, check the crank sensor and balancer etc. Again, I have personally had all these issues at some point, especially the flexplate and TQ on a Buick V6!!
You want to talk about butt hurt and engine builds? I went through 3 motor builds in one season over a screw up from Diamond pistons that they ended up somewhat admitting to. One of the pistons blew apart in the finals at Norwalk and as a result my car was in ball of flames in the traps at over 160mph!! I spent well over $15k that summer fixing that motor due to others mistakes and what do you think I got? A free set of pistons from diamond and another bill from my machinist!!
Point is this is aftermarket high performance engine building, there is no warranty on stuff. If you want to get your car fixed you need to work with people not slam them on the internet which will get you no where quick.
