8ba main bearing cap direction

S

Scottyboy

Member
Can anyone tell me which direction each of the 3 main bearings on my 8BA face. How does the cap bearing tang associate with the block bearing tang. In between taking them to the machine shop I have lost track. Does the numbers stamped on them tell me?
 
The cap tang is on the same side as the block tang. The front main cap has a little *** cast in it. Don't remember what the numbers are, but they would also ID the location.
 
The bolt holes on the front cap are offset from center of the cap; the rear main cap is fairly obvious. As I recall the center cap has an arrow cast into it.
 
OK I have set the bearing caps and to have the tangs all on 1 side they are on the passenger side or right side of the block, (left side with the block upside down), but tangs are all offset. Tjhe block bearing tang is towards the front of the block and the cap bearing tangs are towards the rear of the block. Does this seem correct? The interesting thing is... With the caps set this way the part numbers stamped on the front and center caps are read right side up by looking from the rear of the block, but the back part number is read right side up from the front of the block.
 
The front main cap, #1, has the bolt holes offset to the rear, if you look at the front main saddle in the block these holes are also offset. Approx 1/8" rearward.

The second cap, #2, has the main bolt holes centered, also centered in the block saddle.

The last cap, for the thrust brg is obvious! And the "tangs" go together, like mentioned above.

The part numbers cast into the 3 caps can all read different from the rear of the block. They aren't all same on all the blocks I have here! Some face forward and some rearward, even on the same block.

Thanks, Gary in N.Y.

P.S. The front main cap, #1, should NOT fit into the register on the second main saddle in the block!
 
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Let me take another good look and double check what what I have so far. I know that my front cap only fits one way with the tangs misaligned on one side. The center cap is reversible but I will set it with the tangs misaligned on the same side. I will have to double check the rear thrust bearing. It is reversable but what I have first seen there is no way to set it tang to tang. It is either set with the the cap tang directly accross from the block bearing tang or on the same side but misaligned front adn back. But I will double check.

Thanks,
 
By saying the tangs go together, it just means on one side. They will be misaligned to each other, that is correct. The upper and lower bearing shells are the same so one tang must be towards the front and the other towards the rear if on the same side. The block and cap will probably have a witness mark where the notch was on the mating piece.

What you describe is correct.

Mart.
 
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