Hi everyone, thanks for looking. I may or may not have a problem witha couple rod caps. I will attach a pic but it is not my cap just a cap i found in one of my searches. I hope i can get my point accross.

Ok.. on the cap where the tang is notched out, it looks like the tang had been inlonggated. Where normally they are about 1/4 inch long for the bearing tang to fit in these two tangs are longer.
I find it hard to belive that a bearing had scrored the cap like that due to the cap being a softer metal.

The pic is to give u an idea of where I am talking about. This is a pic of a normal cap.

my question is....I have just started to put together my short block and as I was assembling the bearings I noticed these slots being differnt. are they going to work. is this normal wear or am I going to have to spend more money I don't have on this motor.
Thanks again for the help.


p.s. everything is new except. Block(machine shop cleaned and bored) Crank, rods/caps and heads (ported and polished)

 

Well, it does look like something went on there. First off, when you talk about elongated, I assume that you mean the width of the notch, I can see where the sides of the notch appear to be burred (kind of pushed up into the machined area). As far as the length of the notch, I've seen several lengths, although not in the same engine. In other words, I don't think the length of the notch is a huge deal, there does seem to be considerable variance there between rods. Are the rod bolts tight in the rod? They should be pressed in. Also, the area of the rod underneath the bearing area, does this look smeared, or can you still see crosshatch? (I can't tell from the photo). I would be most worried about the metal that has been moved from the sides of the notch. The bottom line is, it's a good call on your part, some guys would never notice that, and now is the time to fix it. Time to get them rebuilt IMO....Sorry.

 

I knew I would confuse some people.

That pic is not the cap I am talking about . This cap is just a pic I found in a search. I will make a few lines to show u where i am talking about on that pic. ...I am thinking if u think that cap is bad than mine is messed up..

The tang has not been widened.

 

I recognize that cap.

Someone here asked about the other notch. IIRC, they'd gotten the rods from Competition Engineering.

Anway, the purpose of the groove (as it was explained in that thread) is to keep the bearing from sliding out the sides of the rod (toward the front and rear of the engine).

A lot of people assume it's to keep the bearing from spinning, but bearing crush takes care of that. As long as the tang on the bearing sits within that groove while staying withing the width of the cap and rod it's fine.

 

Even if you spun the bearing you wouldn't dig that little notch any deeper or longer- the bearing metal is just too soft to tear up the rod or cap saddles in that way. It just rips the tabs off the bearing and then the bearing shells rotate within the saddle, taking off a few thou the whole way around off the rod and cap, requiring the big end to be remachined to bring it back into spec (or it will just spin the bearing again shortly after). Never have I seen it elongate the notch in the rod or cap to any degree that I have ever noticed.

That's sort of the long way around the barn to say that if the notches in the rod/cap are extra long on yours then they were made that way. Is that good or bad? I doubt it makes much difference if it's a little too long but I'd contact the rod manufacturer and ask them.

I don't think that even special chamfered bearings use extra long tabs. I can't imagine a reason why the notches would ever need to be extra-long, but I also can't think of a reason why it would hurt anything.

 

U guys have made my day I had put the short block together but I had this sinking feeling in my gut that I would be taking it back apart and have to buy new rods and caps which I can not aford at this stage of my build---still need headers---

You guys know how to make a person feel better

 

Yep that has it coverred, don't worry about the length of the notch. I'm glad it turned out for you.
About those headers, if you can't find a set cheap try to find the exhaust manifolds from an L69, they're bigger than an LG4. Hope that helps in your situation.