Hey, I'm doing a dissasembly on a 350,.. i'm stuck at the piston and rod removal/; I can't get the caps off of the rods,... I am working on the # 1 piston, which appears to be at or around BDC. I took the nuts off of the rods, and the caps don't wasnt to move. the whole rod including the caps move side to side a little,.. but the cap wo't budge form the rest of the rod. I am afraid to hit it real hard,.. is there something i missed? what is the procedure for this. thanks
oh and BTW, how do you measure crank endplay,.. can anyone show a photo of which main it is?

Put a nut back on there and try tapping on the bolt. You can also use something like a piece of wood and hit the back side of the piston like where the wrist pin is.

i heard that you shouldn't tap the bolt./// but the back of the piston could work,, what if it's not at perfect BDC that's ok righ? thanks

From Chilton's:
To check crankshaft endplay, pry the crankshaft to the extreme rear of it's travel, then to the extreme front of it's travel. Using a feeler gauge, measure the end-play at the front of the rear main bearing. End play may also be measured at the thrust bearing.

Pete

Well, its all relative. Its easier to have the piston at TDC IMHO, but pick one or the other, or you are going to smack the cylinder wall with the rod.

I usually just go for the bolts because they are usually just binding such a small amount that there is no way tapping the bolt could do any harm whatsoever.

Agreed. The bolts are knurled, which is what is keeping the cap from just sliding off. With a nut on each rod bolt, threaded so the edge of the nut is flush with the end of the bolt, tap on each in turn - don't just keep whacking the same bolt. When one pops, then you can concentrate on the other until both sides are loose.

The worse that can happen is the bolt will slide out of the rod as well as the cap. No biggie. You'll be putting ARP rod bolts back in anyway, right?

Once you have the rod caps off put some fuel hose on the rod bolts. It will keep them from scratching the bores as you remove the piston/rod from the cylinder.

yeah i heard about the fuel hose on the bolts,.. but thanks for the good tip. As far as tapping the bolts, i don't want them to fall off of the rod, because they are already ARP's and i am keeping them. you sure i should tape them? i heard you shouldn't even use the nuts more than 3 times, let alone smack them. I am keeping everything but pistons and bearings. thanks

Not talking about killing them with the hammer, it shouldnt take much at all. We're just talking about a little bit of interference here.

Hit it with the same intensity as you would pounding a brad nail into drywall, and want to leave 1/8" sticking out.

Maybe not THAT soft, but you get the idea.

And as five7kid said, alternate sides frequently.

ok, i hit them a little harder than that and got them out! thanks guys.. BTW,.. my #8 piston ring was shattered,... my #5 rings had metal bits all around them probably from the chip of missing piston. Also between cylinder #5 and 6, under the lifter valley and camshaft, the cylinders were all broken up,. kinda like if you tooka bite out of the bottom edge of the cylinder near the cam. any ideas what failed first? i know since day one, the #8 cylinder had weak compression and had been washed out with fuel do to no spark to it, but since that wsa resolved, i did 20 k miles and didn't have a problem till the blower was installed,. maybe the #5 went from the blower, or are they all related? thanks. -justin