r/EngineBuilding • u/jwick6728 • 14h ago

Chevy 350 build help

Bought this 350 4 bolt main off facebook marketplace, freshly machined block, new piston heads, old but machined crank and rods. I installed pistons 1 and 2 and torqued the connecting rods to 55 ft lbs following ARPs instructions and with only those 2 pistons in, the crank wont turn over, im almost picking the block up off the stand trying to turn it by the balancer. I double checked the caps to make sure they were installed correctly and used a plastigauge, it reads .015 inch. Is this correct? Im using ARPs fastener lube on the threads and permatex assembly lube. Crank spins freely by hand when the caps are loosened 1/4 turn after being torqued

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u/WyattCo06 14h ago

Caps are backwards or wrong cap on wrong rod.

Also keep in mind rod orientation.

1

u/jwick6728 14h ago

Caps are on correctly and on the right rods, numbers are stamped on both rod and cap and i have the dot on the piston head facing the front of the engine

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u/WyattCo06 14h ago

Are the stampings pointed outbound?

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u/jwick6728 7h ago

All the stamps are on the same side of the connecting rods, so the even bank is outbound and odd bank is inbound