Rod torque

[Sky]

Hello, would anyone know by anychance the correct connecting rod torque for a 1932 194 cubic inch chevy engine? 6 cylender.

i have a rod thats knocking and i want to pull the oil pan and check the rod torque on the rods. hoping that one of the bearings arent wore out....but with my luck it is.


Thanks

[John G. Simpson]

SKY.
Book calls for 35-45 ft lbs on a 1940 engine. yours should be the same.
does it have babbited rods?
lots of luck.
john

[Tom Martin]

That engine will have babbit rod bearings since Chevy used them through 1953 on their engines. If they haven't all been taken out, there should be brass shims to adjust the bearings. The bearings can be adjusted without pulling the head off if that's all that has to be done.

[Sky]

Thanks guys! also, are these the kind you space out with shims? is so,..what is the clearance suppose to be inbetween the rod bearings and crank? can i get this shim material at an automotive store like carquest or Napa or?

[Ron Haskell]

Sky. The 35-45 should be right. My Motor's Manual for 1935 says 35-45.

[Ron Haskell]

Rod bearing clearance for 1935 should be; .0005-.001, with end play .0040.012.

[Bill Geyer]

Sky, you will have to be very careful setting that up because the journal is likely to be somewhat out of round. If you get it too tight it will seize, too loose and the babbitt will hammer out. Good luck

[Patrick McNallen]

You need to check the crankpin for being "flat". Many of those engines were run with the rods loose and the crank pins would get egg-shaped. I don't know what the allowable limit is, but if your crankpin is more than maybe .003 or .004 out of round, the rod won't stay tight. I think that those engines were made to run with 10 W or 20 W oil. You don't want to put thick oil in them, especially in cold weather, or the rods won't oil right. The oil pan will have a set of troughs in it under the rods and probably some oil nozzles that point at the rod dippers. Those nozzles can get out of line. Also some people would stick a screwdriver in the oil dippers and twist it to make them wider, thinking the rods would oil better. That is not a good idea, since it will tend to knock the oil out of the trough at higher speeds. The dippers were made narrow and sharp-edged on purpose so they would cut a thin track through the oil in the trough that could close back up before the rod came around again a split second later. Those engines were good low-priced engines, but they would not stand up to over-revving abuse. Normal oil pressure was pretty low, so don't expect it to show much more than 10-15 psi on the gauge.