All – thanks for your input…and Ray, thanks for the encouragement! Once I get the rest of the parts for the engine, I will dive into the cases and figure out what the heck happened.
Alan – the ball was in place in the pressure plate. In fact everything came apart quite nicely. I was concerned when I saw metal shavings come from the oil, but hopefully the metal came from just that rod and no where internally.
Lets say the pin bearing failing was the cause of this. Could have the debris from the bearing gotten trapped somewhere in another bearing or gear inside the casing? After the engine locked up on me, I got it back to neutral from 5th gear. So I’m praying everything inside there is alright.
I got a new crankshaft assembly assuming that the old one was done…but it seems to have a tight side-to-side tolerance (much like the new one). How do I check to see if the rod was stretched? Perhaps I could reuse the old crank? I say “old”…but it was new as of last December. Thoughts?
BTW – the piston and cylinder look great! Still has a nice crosshatch in the cylinder (though I will get it honed anyways and rebuild the top end).
I’ve heard some people drill holes on the piston where the exhaust bridge would be in contact with for added lubrication and cooling. How difficult is that to do? Do I even bother?
