You sure the rod/piston is going in the right way and you're not pinching the bearing on the crank radius?

Don't soak the walls or pistons in oil - that just leads to them not seating in properly and getting burnt oil in the ring lands. Lightly rub a little oil into the walls or a spray of wd-40 then install the pistons dry.

 

Yeah rods/pistons going in right cylinder and also marked which one have dots facing foward and backwards so they r going in exactly how they came out. When we first realized it was very hard to turn took first one out checked it was fine no marks. Cylinder walls being oiled sorry if I made it seem like they were being drenched there not pistons not oiled either. Just seems weird as to why it is hard to turn at first then once turning its fine.

 

So to clarify, your break-away torque(to get the crank turning) is significantly higher than it was before you changed out the bearings - now is the constant force required the same once it starts turning?

Putting a torque wrench on the crank and recording the break-away torque and constant #'s would help.

The permatex assembly lube is very sticky - that could be making it difficult to start turning. Put the oil pump on and prime the system I bet it gets much easier...

 

That would indicate a very wiped thrust or bearing try under .010" down to .004" in some applications.

 

Agreed on getting the rotational torque. Also how long between trying to turn it? Does it do it even if you only stop for a couple seconds or only if you engine sits for extended periods of time?

 

yes its harder to turn with new rod bearings and no once it turns it turns with the same amount of force it took to turn with old bearings. Also once I stop turning for like 2 seconds its hard to turn again but if I keep turning its fine. I tried turning crank with just bolt in crank bolt hole I'm afraid to apply that much pressure because I dont want it to snap hence the pliers on old timing gear sprocket to get it turning. My friend who has done several engines never experienced this before but after talking to the his friend at the machine shop they are sure its the assembly lube and the suction it creates since rods came back not egg shaped and everything was within spec and like I said before after we had hard time turn with just 2 rods in we took it apart and checked no marks or wear at all. Oil pump is in but I have a moroso pan and a hv pump so pan needs to be notched so cant prime or fill just yet. Will work on it again this weekend as its the only time we have to do this. Also original bearings had a decent amount of wear but it was all normal wear. I lost my last engine 10yrs ago due to bad bearing thats why I felt I needed to change em out. Thanks for input guys!

 

First: get one of these and a 1/2 breaker bar to turn it over.
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/MIL-27000/

Second, listen to MachinistOne

 

Just ordered one be here friday! Thats what we intend to do once pan gets notched, run oil in through it.

 

I've seen this happen when the rods were installed backwards. Double check that the chamfered sides are facing the correct way.