Engine stops rotating = Puzzled??

[blykins]

What’s the part number on the rod bearings?  Sometimes a bearing will be too wide and it will hit the fillet on the rod journal.

Make sure you have a narrow rod bearing and also make sure the upper bearings are in the rod and the lower bearings are in the cap.

[bsprowl]

How can you tell the upper from the lower?  Are they marked or

[blykins]

How can you tell the upper from the lower?  Are they marked or

The ones that are supposed to be oriented correctly will have an L or U on them. 

[My427stang]

How can you tell the upper from the lower?  Are they marked or

Marked bigger than day, well, if you don't need readers like I do..then it's "Where are my darn glasses?" LOL.  As Brent said, some U/L, some brands spell UPPER/LOWER out completely

[Heo]

You dont have one of the rods turned the wrong way?

[Rory428]

Curious what connecting rod bearings have a difference between uppers and lowers? Personally I have never used rod bearings for a FE that had specific position orientation. And what would the difference be? As HEO mentioned, I have to wonder if one of the rods was installed incorrectly, so that the large chamfer on the rod was facing the adjacent rod, rather than the radius of the crank fillet. That would certainly cause the rod side clearance to be too tight.

[My427stang]

Curious what connecting rod bearings have a difference between uppers and lowers? Personally I have never used rod bearings for a FE that had specific position orientation. And what would the difference be? As HEO mentioned, I have to wonder if one of the rods was installed incorrectly, so that the large chamfer on the rod was facing the adjacent rod, rather than the radius of the crank fillet. That would certainly cause the rod side clearance to be too tight.

All 2.20 bearings (BBC) have upper/lower positions, that's what is used for strokers.  The difference is they are slightly offset away from the chamfer

Yes a backwards rod could do it, and in some cases, not always, not using a narrowed bearing can do it too.  I had a Genesis 496 come in that ate most of them because the supplier sent a guy a set of standard width bearings, depends on how the crank is cut

[blykins]

Curious what connecting rod bearings have a difference between uppers and lowers? Personally I have never used rod bearings for a FE that had specific position orientation. And what would the difference be? As HEO mentioned, I have to wonder if one of the rods was installed incorrectly, so that the large chamfer on the rod was facing the adjacent rod, rather than the radius of the crank fillet. That would certainly cause the rod side clearance to be too tight.

The majority of your performance/race rod bearings will have uppers/lowers.  Off the top of my head, I can't remember if a performance FE journal rod bearing will have them, but I know for a fact that all of your SBC/BBC/SBF/BBF performance rod bearings will have uppers/lowers.  It's so common place that as soon as I pull a pair out of the box, my muscle memory goes to turning them upside down and reading the backs.

[Mr Woodys Garage]

Very Frustrating, I'm Sure. In Reality, You Should Remove The Crank, Have It Polished To Proper Bearing Clearances, And Start Over With The Bottom End /Reciprocating Assembly. Check To Be Sure There Is Plenty Of Crank/Rod Clearance To The Bottom Of The Cylinders/Sleeves. Closely Examine The Ring Lands On The Pistons That Were "Stuck", And Be SURE The Rings And Ring Lands On The Pistons On The Rods That Were Binding Have Not Been Damaged. Unfortunately, There Has Been Too Much Done To Find Your Problem, Too Many Tear Downs,And Re Assemblies. Take It All Back Apart, Re Group, And You Will Have A Better Chance For Sucess. Frustration Causes More Problems Than One Realizes.     
 Just An Opinion, But Here Goes. First Off, Contact Brent And Have Him Send You A Set Of Molnar Rods,(Eagle Rods Are NOT Famous For Their Quality, (Especially After Grinding On Them For Clearance) And Matching Coated Rod Bearings Quality Always Pays. Since You Have Already Ground On And "Machined" Your Existing Rods, The Balancing Previously Done Is Now Not Accurate.  Be Sure And Have The New Rod Bearings On Hand When The Balance Work Is Done. "Close Enough" Is Not Good Enough. Making Sure The New Rods Are Installed On The Pistons In The Proper Orientation, Re Assemble It Starting With The Problem Cylinders First, And, Hopefully Everything Will Go Together Properly. Im Not A Professional Machinist, But The Other Thing I Would Be Concerned About Is The Extra Thickness Of The Head Gaskets. It Is Asking For Problems With The Installation Of 8 Sleeves. The Pistons Should Be At Least Even With The Deck, Or SLIGHTLY Down In The Bore On A Sleeved Cylinder. Perhaps Slightly Shorter Rods Or Custom Pistons Should Be Used So A Minimum Thickness Head Gasket Can Be Used? Again, Check With Brent About Your Options With This Also, Consider Cylinder Head Studs. Getting A Head Ache From All That Can Go Wrong With This Situation, But, Again Things To Consider, And My Solicited Opinion. You Have A Lot Of Nice, Expensive Parts Going Into This Build, Re Group, And Make The Next Assembly, The Last Assembly. Good Luck...

[cammerfe]

Mr Woody offers good advice. Not, perhaps, the sort of thing you wanted to hear, and a bit of a 'hit' on the wallet, but surely less expensive than a re-do in the future when something fails. Best of luck!!!

KS

[Barry_R]

The majority of your performance/race rod bearings will have uppers/lowers.  Off the top of my head, I can't remember if a performance FE journal rod bearing will have them, but I know for a fact that all of your SBC/BBC/SBF/BBF performance rod bearings will have uppers/lowers.  It's so common place that as soon as I pull a pair out of the box, my muscle memory goes to turning them upside down and reading the backs.

This is your answer.  You can see the edge contact in one of your images.
Strokers "should" be using an F-M or Levite race rod bearing - and in the correct upper/lower orientation.
Or - they hit the crank's fillet radius - as you've found.

[Kevin66]

Thanks again to everyone for all the input here, it really gave me some direction and things to be looked closely at.

None of the rods was installed backwards, the beveled edge was facing the crank cheek. In the end, it 'appears' to have simply been a matter of me mixing-up the bearings (Speed Pro 8-7200CH) on those #4 and #8 rods (Two of the 'upper' shells were in one of them, and two 'lower' ones in the other). As a result, the beveled edge of half the bearings was not on the side of the rod with the fillet radius bevel on it. It looks like there was significant compression of the bearings once the rods were torqued down, which probably caused both the burnishing on the shells at the side against the crank cheek, and the heavy rubbing at the parting line.

By some miracle, the crank didn't suffer any significant damage. It is being polished to provide the necessary clearances. Even newer bearings are being installed.