Had rods resized and ARP bolts installed. Had to pry the caps apart. Installed 1&5 and torqued with plastigauge to check clearance. Can loosen them slightly but no room to get screw driver in to pry them apart. Any suggestions other than a large hammer?

Back the nuts off to the ends of the bolts and alternately tap on them with a small hammer and brass drift. Make sure the piston is at BDC when you try this.

Tried that. May need bigger hammer like I said but want to be very careful not to damage something. Alternating and going slow may work. Every time I have a problem and get in a hurry I am sorry. Will probably get back to it Monday. Sometimes walking away from something and going back latter helps a lot.

This is a question, not a statement. If you can't slide the caps over the rod bolts, how do you get a proper clearance reading at the proper torque? Wouldn't the friction on the bolts give a bad reading for bolt stretch at the torque setting?

miker
55 bird, 32 cabrio F code
Kent, WA
Tucson, AZ

They slide through but it is a tight fit with the ARP bolts. Never had this problem with Ford bolts. They came back from the machine shop torqued down and the ends meet up perfectly. 

So they are bolts, not studs.?
And have you put the cap on the right way, tang to tang etc.

However, by squeezing the bolt heads together, wiggle the cap by the bolts forward and backward, length ways of the crank.
This should free the binding.  

take them back to the machine shop. had a simler problem ,machine shop could not find a lost set of bolts and substetuted . went to a different shop they claimed that 460 ford bolts wher a better fit ,but had to trim them. to much thread after nut inst.the incorrect bolts made the bearing clearance to tight. you may have to have the rods resized after corect bolts inst.. i would use 2nd hand correct bolts rather than what you have.the rob bolts used at ford ar over built so would not worey about reusability. just my take

Bolts are ARP bought new from John Mummert. If I can't figure it out tomorrow I will talk to the machine shop and then to John. The machine shop installed the bolts and did resize the rods.

I usually use a piece of broom stick long enough to reach the wristpin boss.Tap on that with your hammer and the cap will come off.Be careful that once the cap starts moving you pick it off with your fingers and put protective sleeves on the rod bolts.

Yes!  Crank throw positioned so that piston is at bottom of cylinder bore, rod parallel with cylinder bore...  GooD recommendation, steinauge!   


NoShortcuts
a.k.a. Charlie Brown
near Syracuse, New York