BanGnGearS

How much pressure do you think that it should take to turn my crankshaft with the engine assembled.. Im going to hook up the starter tomorrow just to turn it over real quick, but im concerned on how hard it seems to turn. Is it just me? How many foot pounds do you think it should take to turn the crank shaft?

jotto

Because of the compression on an engine, its gonna be real hard to turn by hand. Normally you would take out the plugs and use a socket or a wrench on the cam bolt to turn it over. If all has been assembled, plugs in etc it will be hard to turn by hand. If you can move it by hand there shouldnt be a problem.

bobs77vet

i use an 18" breaker bar with deep socket on the crankshaft harmonic balancer bolt ...one hand pulling it towards me it is a heavy pull on the compression stroke....i guess maybe 30 ft lbs

redvetracr

you don`t say...spark plugs in or out!!
...redvetracr

jimmygmartin

I know alot of guys use the harmonic baancer bolt but I am afraid of breaking that bolt off . I use a crank turning tool that bolts with the pully bolts on the harmonic balancer. I have a solid roller cam, so I installed studs in the harmonic balancer and keep the pully in place with jam nuts. When I adjust the valves, I just put the tool on top of the pully jam nuts with another jam nut on each stud.

neoh77

Funny you should ask... 383 stroker, no plugs, freshly built. Just getting the lifters adjusted. I used a torque wrench and it was 40-50 ft lbs.

-Matt

sweethence

A good breaker bar and a one arm pull should be suffient with plugs in. if it seems harder, go back and make sure you adjusted the valve train properly i.e did the mechanical adjustment right. if thsi is off it will seem reallly hard to turn the crank by hand. also prime the oil pump witha drill tunrn the engine 180 and prime soem more. the toll is easy to find, or an old distributor shaft will work too





tim

SanDiegoPaul

Hmmm interesting. My motor has about 15K miles since being stroked ... and it takes a lot more than that to turn it over w/out plugs in it.

Yellow73SB

There is no way you can do it with a regular rachet with out struggling alot. I use a breaker bar on the balancer bolt and it turns pretty easy probally like 30 pounds. This is a 355 though.

Gordonm

If you break that head off the bolt you have some serious engine troubles. That bolt should be able to take 200+ ft/lbs. If it takes that much to turn the engine there is trouble. I use an old torque wrench tha tdoes not work right. It ratchets but is long enough to get leverage.

moosie982

Yep, with what he said. Peace,,,Moosie

bobs77vet

you just can't go backwards with it....

GaryS

Somebody makes a unit that bolts to the balancer. The eliminates the chance that you break the center balancer bolt. I think it maya be Eastwood and I seem to remember that I got this information from John Hinkley.
Gary

Jughead

I have one in this picture, works great.

THE ROOSTER

I'm with Jug!!!

BanGnGearS

I definitly feel like the engine is tighter then 40-50 lbs.. Definitly not anywhere near that 200lbs mark tho.. I put new rings in after honing the cylinders. I might just hook a power source to the starter to see if she will crank at all.. This is the first 350 i've ever done, so I dont want to blow it.. I didn't use plasti-guage on the crank bearings, so Im hoping that i have proper clearance.. Everything was torqued to the specs the manuals gave me.. Hope all goes well......

71redskin

i was wonderin why it was so hard to turn my motor until i gave it a good tug and the car lurched forward.....oh sheet...its in gear.

glen242

I could not get that unit that bolts to the balancer to work correctly, I forgot why. Bought an ARP bolt with a square drive in the head. Been using this for about a year.

Gordonm

I have done that also.

Retro78

[QUOTE=Jughead] I have one in this picture, works great.

Jughead...great looking motor...quality stuff. Where did you get the harmonic balancer/bolt assembly? I cannot find it anywhere.