Cotter pins holding main bearing nuts

It takes time either way. Its not good to get in too big of a hurry when doing an engine. I use the old bolts and nuts while setting up the clearance and no cotter pins need to be installed in this process. After the clearance it set up to my satisfaction, I install the new bolt, nut and washer setup in place of the old bolts and nuts. With the new setup, when proper torque is applied, no cotter pins are needed. It can be amazing how much difference the special washers make in controlling rear main bearing oil leaks plus the fact that no cotter pins are used. The special sealing type washers can be purchased seperately. I figure for best results that the washers should only be used once.
 
christian said:
Thanks for all the responses. I got to work and ended up using a wrench and socket, sheared the pin right off.

Once I got the cap off I was very disappointed. The state of babbitt on the rods was excellent, groves looked factory and all had about 6 to 7 shims in place.

The mains turned out to be another story. No shims and shattered babbitt.
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The real strain is on the babbit in the main bearing caps. In many cases the babbit will still be useable in the block. I have never had that much trouble fitting good used main bearing caps in such cases. Just saying.
 
I found that cotter pins in the connecting rod caps breakup into pieces caused by sloshing through the motor oil in the oil pan troughs. Use modern self-locking nuts on the connecting rod caps instead of the OEM castle nuts
 
Since I can in no way afford a rebuild at this point, I'm going to see if I can try your method purdy. Of course I have no way of accessing the block side, but if the motor is trash then what's the harm in fitting good used caps temporarily?


Now I just gotta find one..... Well first I should probably pull the other two caps if they need replacing. Once I pulled the center and saw its condition, I kinda just threw it on the ground an walked away.
 
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