MTFCA Forum

setting up my bearing clearance with time saver fresh babbitt reground crank. i have .001 on 1 .001 on 2
ans .0015 on 3 i can turn it with one hand should i let it alone it turns nice. philip

I've always set up my engines with .0015. When doing each bearing, it works out pretty well. But you must consider every bearing including the mains. And then, you have the drag on the piston rings too. It all adds up to a pretty tight engine. I have a one inch square piece of shim stock that I test each bearing with after I use the Time Saver. If it locks up the bearing, I know I have the clearance where I want it. Of course I remove the piece of shim stock, and move on.

these are the mains im using plastigauge

I use plastigage too, to give me an idea where I'm at, and then, go from there. Our vendors do not supply the necessary shim stock to get accurate bearing clearance. I've never understood why. I have to make my own .001 and .002 inch shims which I shouldn't have to do to get accurate bearing clearances.

A proper line bore job with new babbit should never need Timesaver to set the clearance.

I hear you Dan! Never ever required it.

Hank

What is the advantages or disadvantage if using timesaver?

RE not using timesaver or fitting by scraping in. Wouldn't a lot depend on what tooling you have/use to line boar the mains and how the crank is ground. If you have adjustable cutters on your boring bar, sure I can see being able to setup for that last cut. There are people out there that still use the KR Wilson tooling and ream the final cut.

You get high spots in babbitt boring regardless of what type of boring bar/machine used, it's just the nature of the stuff. combined with the crank grind high/lows, never yet not had to scrape high spots. 50 years of engine re-building, trade school and a father who new his stuff.
Time saver replaces what Ford used to do and that is burnish the bearings, coupled to an electric drive, 700 RPM for 1 minute for making a near 100% contact bearing.

i used a self built boring jig. it works good but i dont get the finish that i want.
the timesaver works good. philip

What color Plasticgauge do you use? Given what you write above and that the red type are for "FOR MEASUREMENTS OF: 0.001″ to 0.007″ (0.025mm – 0.175mm)" according to their website, I would say red type must be the right?

I use the .001 - .003 plastigage.

i think i used the green

Using the time saver will give you the proper clearance.
Ain't it sweet to spin the crank with one finger?

I agree timesaver would not be necessary with a good Babbitt job. I have yet to get a good Babbitt job. Timesaver fixes that.
Heck, the guy we used to use provided a motor too tight.(popular team near San Diego) I used to add a shim to get the crank to turn.
Then contact surfaces were less than 80%. Timesaver corrected that mess.