[Maniac0908]

Originally Posted by Ozzie335i

Per MMP the King bearings provide additional clearence over the stock bearings. When I had mine installed the plastigage checks were pretty much right on .002. Stock is .001. As Johny Quest (my spelling) said, do the plastigage checks for your peace of mind.

So with the king CR222SV clearance should be .002? What is the limits?

[Ozzie335i]

Originally Posted by Maniac0908

So with the king CR222SV clearance should be .002? What is the limits?

I think you already answered your question whether or not you should change the bearings. You are already there. Hot rodders regularly go with. 003 or .004. Go with the Kings and save both money and improve reliability with the extra space for your oil of choice to flow.

[Maniac0908]

Did you get the cr222sv0.5 or the cr222sv0.25?

[Red_Bean_Bun]

Originally Posted by Maniac0908

Did you get the cr222sv0.5 or the cr222sv0.25?

He mentioned he got the stock std size...

Did you machine your crank journals ? If no - then size should be std.

I’ll be rebuilding mine soon and more than likely would go down the King / Calico coated bearings ...

[JuniorB]

I just done King rod bearings and Arp bolts, for m as piece of mind. The motor is at 60k, I’m doing all he gaskets and a bunch of other stuff. I found hat my upper were worn more than the lowers, I’ve seen others I h the h same wear on your he uppers. You never know what lies beneath until it’s to late, for what I sent in parts, it’s well worth it.

[JonEQuest]

Unless you have had your crank turned and cut down in size ONLY use STD (standard) size bearings. My crank looked good so all I did was clean everything, install new bearings and bolt it back together with stock bolts using the correct turn to yield procedure. I didn't do a plastic gauge or anything like that. My surfaces looked good and my bearings were really not very worn, probably because I had 75k on the engine. I just replaced them because I had to pull a bent rod out and if you are there you may as well change them, especially if you have significant miles. If the races and the crank looks good, then don't do anything, No sanding, no measuring, etc. Just put new ones in with assembly lube, then install new bolts and torque them properly. Turn the engine with a breaker bar by hand to make sure by feel if the engine turns nicely with plugs out of course. Then put the oil pan back on and call it a day.

[Maniac0908]

Originally Posted by JonEQuest

Unless you have had your crank turned and cut down in size ONLY use STD (standard) size bearings. My crank looked good so all I did was clean everything, install new bearings and bolt it back together with stock bolts using the correct turn to yield procedure. I didn't do a plastic gauge or anything like that. My surfaces looked good and my bearings were really not very worn, probably because I had 75k on the engine. I just replaced them because I had to pull a bent rod out and if you are there you may as well change them, especially if you have significant miles. If the races and the crank looks good, then don't do anything, No sanding, no measuring, etc. Just put new ones in with assembly lube, then install new bolts and torque them properly. Turn the engine with a breaker bar by hand to make sure by feel if the engine turns nicely with plugs out of course. Then put the oil pan back on and call it a day.

Did you use any assembly compound? Watched a video on YouTube where he used molyslip as40.

[JonEQuest]

I used some Lucas semi synthetic assembly lube. You need lube on new parts for start-up until the oil gets flowing.

[nissubaru]

Originally Posted by JonEQuest

Unless you have had your crank turned and cut down in size ONLY use STD (standard) size bearings. My crank looked good so all I did was clean everything, install new bearings and bolt it back together with stock bolts using the correct turn to yield procedure. I didn't do a plastic gauge or anything like that. My surfaces looked good and my bearings were really not very worn, probably because I had 75k on the engine. I just replaced them because I had to pull a bent rod out and if you are there you may as well change them, especially if you have significant miles. If the races and the crank looks good, then don't do anything, No sanding, no measuring, etc. Just put new ones in with assembly lube, then install new bolts and torque them properly. Turn the engine with a breaker bar by hand to make sure by feel if the engine turns nicely with plugs out of course. Then put the oil pan back on and call it a day.

Thanks for the more thorough breakdown, I was thinking about sanding the crank VERY lightly with like 2000 grit or something but I'll just clean it up and slap the bearings in.

As for the Plastigage, I'll probably do it just cause I bought a pack at PepBoys. Should have this done later today with pics

[JonEQuest]

Originally Posted by nissubaru

Thanks for the more thorough breakdown, I was thinking about sanding the crank VERY lightly with like 2000 grit or something but I'll just clean it up and slap the bearings in.

As for the Plastigage, I'll probably do it just cause I bought a pack at PepBoys. Should have this done later today with pics

You can do a little 2,000 grit as long as you wrap strips around and change angles so you don't make an uneven surface. There are YouTube videos that show how to do it right.

[nissubaru]

Here ya go:








Plastigauged 4 out of the 6 cylinders. I got tired of doing it and scrubbing the marks off the bearing cap/crank journal. It adds too much time IMO and they all were around the same value. My bearings didn't look too bad. For reference this is an 85k mile or so (I forget the exact mileage, I can dig it up) 535i motor with somewhat crappy oil change intervals. Top end was sorta sludgey but the bearings don't look terrible in my opinion.



Got er done though. Only one question, how do I tighten the sprocket bolt holding the chain to the oil pump?

[JonEQuest]

Those look a lot like what mine did on my poorly maintained 75k engine. They look pretty good. I would have just made sure you cleaned everything really good as one grain of sand can scar things up and put the new ones in. As for that sprocket. If I remember right I just put a steel rod (or 1/4" extension) through one of the holes in the sprocket so it would lodge against the pump and allow me to turn the nut without turning the pump.

[Maniac0908]

Does this look ok?

[JonEQuest]

WOW, that looks a little worn.

Originally Posted by Maniac0908

Does this look ok?

Reinstall, back timing off 1 deg, and try again

[ChicoBM]

Lots of info here. Well im new to all this n54 and on top of that i turned my car on with no oil in the pan. Now i have that wire noise. I thought i bent valves and when we checked everything looked fine. Now we are going to get the engine out and check the bottom. Not happy at all. Im hoping for the worse.