Clearances

87TIGN

Death by boost
Joined
Aug 21, 2006
What clearances should I ahve for a close to stock rebuild on my 87 for both rods and mains?
 
Been a gazilion posts on this subject- as it seems to be a subjective issue. I built mine to 1.8 thou clearance on the mains and rods.


Long as it's not built like a SBC, you should do fine.....
 
What do you mean built like a Small Block Chevy? You mean using the same clearnaces for the crank and rods? So when I plastigage it I want it to be about .0018 thou? (I am assuming that is what you meant, you said 1.8 which would be an inch and 8 hundredths right?)
 
Correct- .0018 on the mains and the rods. Machine shops are used to doing the machine work on SBCs, as there are a million of them out there. The SBC isn't as stressed as the 3.8, and can therefore live on much looser tolerances without any adverse effects.

From Jack Merkel: Merkel likes to see no more than 2 thousandths clearance (1.5 is preferred) in the main bearings due to the fact that there are no 3/4 groove main bearings available for Buick V6s. (We should note here that 3/4 groove bearings should be available from Federal Mogul by the time you read this.) Oiling for the rods is very important in a Buick because six rods are doing the work of eight. Merkel says, "These engines don't see a lot of rpm so the important thing is to keep the main clearance tight to ensure adequate oil volume to the rod bearings. Typically a small-block Chevy will run a higher rpm to produce the same horsepower on the motor, so they need more clearance."
GM Hi-tech Performance mag article

HTH
 
Thanks so much for your time and knowledge I really appreciate it!!
-Andrew
 
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