2. Turn the engine upside down.
3. Loosen the mounting bolts and remove the main bearing caps and/or their axle assembly (4-cylinder engines).
4. If you haven't already done so, remove the old main bearing shells from their beds in the block and caps. Wipe the beds with a clean, lint-free cloth - they should be spotlessly clean.
Checking the working clearances of the main bearings
Note: Try not to touch the surfaces of new bearings with bare hands to avoid unwanted contact of bearings with traces of oil and chemically aggressive substances that are always present on fingers.
1. Wipe the backs of the new main bearing shells and insert the halves equipped with an oil groove (if provided) into their beds in the block. Insert the remaining halves of the shells into the corresponding bearing caps. Make sure that the tongues of the shells enter the mating grooves in the beds of the block and caps. The oil holes in the block must also be correctly aligned with the holes in the shells.
Warning! Do not attempt to hammer the unfit insert into your bed under any circumstances. Do not lubricate the bearings at this stage!
2. When working on a V6 engine, remember that the thrust washers are installed on the third bearing. On 4-cylinder engines, the thrust bearing is bearing No.4.
3. Wipe the bearing surfaces in the block and the crankshaft journals with a clean, lint-free cloth. Check the shaft oil holes for patency and clean them if necessary. Any foreign particles in the oil passages will eventually end up in the bearings.
4. Carefully place the thoroughly cleaned crankshaft into the main bearings of the block.
5. Before finally installing the shaft, it is necessary to check the working clearances in its main bearings.
6. Cut the calibrated plastic wire from the Plastigage measuring kit into pieces slightly shorter than the width of the bearing shells and place one piece of wire along each of the main journals of the shaft, parallel to their axis.
7. Wipe the surfaces of the liners in the caps and install the latter and/or their bridge assembly in their regular place. Try not to move the pieces of calibrated wire laid along the shaft journals. Lightly lubricate the threads of the fastening bolts with oil and screw them in, securing the caps.
8. As indicated in one of the accompanying illustrations tighten the cover and/or bridge mounting bolts to the required torque in three stages.
Caution! Do not allow the shaft to turn while tightening the fasteners!
9. Remove the bolts and carefully remove the main bearing caps and/or their axle assembly. Stack the removed caps in the order they are located on the engine. Try not to damage the flattened calibrated wire and do not turn the shaft. If any of the caps cannot be removed, gently tap them with a soft-faced hammer to release them.
10. Using the width of the flattened threads measured on the scale on the Plastigage kit packaging, determine the size of the bearing operating clearances. Compare the measurement results with the requirements of the Specifications.
11. If the clearance value is outside the permissible limits, it is possible that the wrong size bearings were installed (see Section Checking the condition and selecting the liners of the main and connecting rod bearings of the crankshaft). Before looking for new inserts, make sure that no dirt or oil has gotten under the inserts at this stage. If the calibrated wire is flattened more at one end than the other, this indicates the presence of a taper in the neck (see Section Checking the condition of the crankshaft).
12. Carefully remove the calibrated wire from the journals, scraping off all traces of it with some not very strong tool (for example, the edge of an old credit card). In extreme cases, you can use your fingernail - the main thing is that there are no scratches or burrs left on the surface of the journals/inserts.
Final installation of the crankshaft
1. Carefully remove the crankshaft from the engine. Wipe the bearing surfaces in the block and lubricate them evenly with a thin layer of molybdenum-containing engine assembly grease. Do not forget to lubricate the thrust washers as well.
Caution! Try not to let grease get on the backs of the liners!
2. Make sure that the crankshaft journals are absolutely clean, then lubricate (with the same grease) the surfaces of the journals that contact the seals and carefully place the shaft in the block.
3. Wipe and lubricate the surfaces of the bearings in the block and covers.
4. Turning the block with the shaft facing up, insert the connecting rod and piston assemblies into it (see Section Installation of connecting rod and piston assemblies and checking the size of working clearances in the connecting rod bearings of the crankshaft).
Note: On 4-cylinder engines, install the main bearing caps and tighten them with bolts without installing the connecting bridge yet. Tighten the fasteners to approximately 14-27 Nm (if the bolts are too long to tighten the caps alone, place washers under their heads). Fitting the caps will help to secure the shaft while installing the connecting rod and piston assemblies. Then remove the caps again, and proceed to the procedure in paragraph 5.
5. Install the main bearing caps and their connecting bridge assembly onto the engine. Remember that the arrows cast on the caps should point forward on the engine.
Attention! Do not forget to install the thrust washers as well.
6. Lightly oil the threaded portion and the underside of the mounting bolt heads, then screw the bolts in and tighten them by hand. Tap the ends of the shaft journals with a hammer through a brass or lead drift to align the thrust washers and seat the shaft before finally tightening the fasteners. Tighten the cover and coupling bridge bolts to the required torque.
7. Turn the crankshaft by hand several times, checking for freedom of rotation.
8. Finally, use a blade type feeler gauge or DTI gauge to determine the amount of shaft end play (see Section Removal the crankshaft). If the thrust surfaces of the shaft are not worn or damaged, and the bearings are replaced with new ones, the axial clearance should not exceed the permissible range.
9. Install the new rear crankshaft oil seal and bolt its holder to the block (see Section Installing the rear crankshaft oil seal).
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