Assembling the Engine - 1954 Pontiac Tempest
Cam Installation
I installed an Eldebrock Performer Plus cam kit (cam and lifters) that I had purchased earlier this year. The supplied cam lube is red and used to coat the lobes. I used Permatex molylube to generously coat the bearings. I'm fortunate enough to have a good friend Mark who provided expert advice and tips on putting every thing back together. We used 2 extra long bolts in the cam gear bolt holes to help guide the cam in. Mark's cam installation tip was to use a string on the tranny end to guide the cam into position. It's simple and works very well.
Long bolts in cam gear and blue string to guide tranny end of cam into place
Crank installation
The crank bearings were thoroughly cleaned and slipped into place. I made sure that each bearing was always used in the same bearing cap throughout testing. The crank oil holes from the main bearings to the rods were cleaned with a brass wire brush to make sure that no obstructions were present. The crank was installed for the last time with generous amounts of Permatex Molylube (white grease) on the bearing surfaces.
Crank installed and main caps torqued to spec
The main bearing caps were installed in the correct location with the arrows pointing to the front of the engine. I purchased new aftermarket 12 point main bolts as they were cheaper than purchasing original Chev main bolts.
Piston/rod installation
I have new Silvolite 8.5-1 compression pistons with 5.565" rods. With the small chamber heads, I should get somewhere around 9.3-1 static compression ratio. I have to measure the head chamber volume later. The #1 piston installation went very smoothly until #2 piston went in. I turned the crank and there was interference with #1 piston skirt and the crank's front counterbalance at bottom dead center (BDC). Oh Oh!
Interference between piston skirt (aluminum at bottom) and black counterbalance
Well after checking and rechecking everything and consulting many experts including Silvolite who says this has never happened before. I decided that the interference wasn't that great and I could file the counterbalance and a bit of the piston skirt for 0.0625" clearance.
I turned the block upside down so that the filings would not fall into the block and just in case I put a good coat of 10-30 oil. The oil catches the filings so that I could wipe them out with a clean cloth. After about an hour of careful fine filing, I had the clearances that I needed and minimal metal losses to both the crank and the piston. Not enough to affect the balancing. I basically had to round off the sharp corner of the counterweight and remove about 0.035" of metal off the piston skirt.
Counterweight bright line is where I filed it for clearance