Big End Advise Please

[Mark McKibbin]

Tod knows the set up well - he gave it to me!  Prior to that I scraped and blued as he describes.

The height is set up using cones and an adjuster underneath, everything is then locked in place.  Cones shown below:

The cones make lots of sense, I was wondering how.  Setup time would be minimal. I suppose you could do the same thing with one cone on a mill to centralise it.

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Mark,

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Mark,
Over the years I have overhauled a fair number of Engines mainly small to medium Diesels (1 to 8 cyl). I have only come across a "shimmed" big end once it was on a medium sized Ruston Engine. It did not seem a "Bodge" repair as the shims were fitted correctly and shaped accordingly. I know it was common practice to shim plain bearings on many other applications.
What thickness is the shim ? If it is only a few thou. it may be worth considering discarding the shim and scraping the bearing to fit the shaft.
When I fitted a Pheonix C/Shaft to my engine I made a mandril crankshaft size less 0.0005" and had it hardened & ground. I scraped all the rods to this and then finally scraped them to the New Crankshaft so the rod just fell under it's own weight when tightened. For what it is worth, my preference is to use a small 3square (triangular) scraper to do this. Always keep it sharp, giving it a wee rub up on a fine oil stone now and again, and don't try and use it blunt.

Tod,
I was hoping to avoid removing the crank if possible so would it be possible to install the rods so they stuck out of the sump with the engine on its side then check how they fall that way?