bottom end inspection of a new engine

We had our first run on our new engine this weekend. Our engine is a 500" KB 10 blown alky set up. Were a little under 2000 hp at 8k. I pulled the filter off and inspected and found some small flakes. Most of these are not metalic. I'm a little nervious. I read some of the other related posts on here with in this topic and still have a few questions. I plan on taking a little peek at the Rods and Mains in the morning to make sure all is still in check. How much is too much. Will you always have some little flakes in the filter? Are the very small metalic pieces cause for concern? Other areas I should be watching? Weve always had little SBC stuff in the past, so I'm new to the Hemi world. Any ideas, past experiences, ect would be great!!

 

Believe it or not, you may see a lot of flakes that come from valve spring shims. The spings rotate and can dig into the shims so you may see that. I always glue magnets close to the oil returns below the heads to catch this so if you don't have these, they will end up in the filter. The filter is doing it's job. If you see a boatload of babbit and copper in the filter, you may be having issues and a bearing check is in order.

 

crap trap

I thought i was going to have a heart attack the first time i cut open the oil filter on my hemi. It has some metalic flake in the filter element. I had never seen anything like that on our small block stuff. I was working with a "seasoned" hemi guy and he handed me the wrench to pull apart the crap trap. He still talks about the look i had on my face when i saw what was on the screen.

It goes away for the most part after the first oil change but a little stuff in their is ok.

 

all seems fine

After pulling down the pan and doing an inspection of the Rods and Mains, I feel alot beter. (I think) The bearings look perfectly fine. It was time well spent to see the bearings and piston skirts, cyl wall, cam, lifters ect. I guess we got a little jumpy with what we found in the filter. But as you all know when you've got this much into somthing little flakes can make a guy nervious!!!

 

Tear Down

I have gotten into the habit of pulling down my engines after the first fire and heating cycle. I didn't do this once and missed a main bearing that was going away, had to get the crank journal welded and reground (got very ugly). Now I take every engine down no matter what the filter looks like. The time it takes is worth it. I'm not independantly wealthy so just protecting my investment.

 

the filter will scare the shit out of you when you see all the shit that is in there just look at the bearings and mic them should be fine

 

Definatly mic the upper rod bearings for squish, new is like .836-8 wide..
I measure in three places middle and both ends, also look for spots of material smearing on the bearing, sometimes you can clean that up, other wise change it out, also keep a good eye on the cap bearing sometimes the brass pin on the rod cap is too tall or not machined deap enough for the bearing.
If any upper rod bearings measure or exceed .842 and up to .843 to .845 those cylinders should get richend up, unless you are a master tuner and your shit hauls ass every pass without hurting itself.