Posted by mark dingbaum on Thursday, March 11, 2004 at 9:15AM :
In Reply to: Pilotshaft bearing hole question: 318/slant-6 posted by RDavis on Wednesday, March 10, 2004 at 8:35PM :
Hi,
There are three kinds of pilot bearing holes in the crank
1. Unmachined (no hole)
2. Drilled but not reamed to final size
3. Finished machined (ready for bushing)
Obviously #3 will be found with factory manuals. You might find 1/2/3 with an auto. I know I've found 440s with automatic (from a new yorker) with the brass pilot bearing in the crank for a manual application. Appeared to be the engine the factory installed.
The other item to be wary of is the torque converter snout/crank relief dimention. In about 1967, the size of this relief was increased. Using a big relief with a small converter requires a ring. Using a big converter with a small relief is not possible.
If you have the big relief in the crank, use the mopar roller bearing that sits in the relief. I don't think there is a bearing available for the small relief crank. If you have #1 above (ie no hole) you can either cut the input shaft, or drill a hole for clearance in the crank. If you are going to be putting a bushing in the hole, it needs to be very concentric to the crank shaft main bearings. If you use the roller bearing in the torque converter relief, concentricity will be OK and the hole can be for input shaft tip clearance only.
Hope this helps,
mark