I've made mention of the stiffness of my engine as I've assembled it. I've lubed every bearing surface as it's been assembled. I've been able to rotate(with a breaker bar on the snout) until I attached the balancer. It's now impossible to turn, I feel like the bolt will snap if I try any harder. Has anyone else had this happen?

Damper contacting the timing cover?

What kid of clearances did you have when assembling the mains and pistons?

Do you have the valves tightened too much? Coil bind on springs.

Take the damper off & then see if it turns.

MBHD

As I assembled it, I plastigaged all of my bearings. After micing the journals, same with rod bearings. I ended up putting STD bearings in(if I remember they were at .015). it has always turned with a little tight. As I added more(replaced original pistons with new rings, new lifters) its gotten a little tougher. I could still turn it with a breaker directly on the crank snout, but I'm afraid I'll break the balancer bolt if I put any more torque on it. I cringe at the thought of tearing it completely down and starting over.

Wrong rings for the piston ring depths..Research piston "Lxxxx" number for ring groove depht size then order rings to match your piston. This problem was somethig you had to watch on some of the 88,89 350 v/8 Chevy pistons using Perfect Circle rings..May have filtered down to the six cyl.

It is crappy but tearing it back down might be what you'll have to do you will sleep better later down the road knowing you did it right

It should get incrementally tighter as you add components to the assembly, but not to the point of needing a breaker bar to turn it. On dis-assembly, also inspect your rod bearings to make sure there is no scuffing or scrapping that can also cause binding and making it hard to rotate.

This has me a little depressed right now. I have to buy a new gasket set. I think I'll back off the rockers, flip it upside down, take the timing cover off, and pull the cam out, then see how the crank rotates by itself and the pistons. Just keep going over in my mind, I checked all of the journals, and platigauged everyone of them, as well as verified the old ones that came off.

I thought everything was turning OK until you installed the damper?

No. Everything measured good as I assembled. But as I added components it just got tighter and tighter. I was using a socket on the snout with a breaker bar to rotate. Now that the damper is on, I can't use that to turn it, I have to use the damper bolt. I could bake a tool that would turn it using the spokes of the damper, I don't want to snap the bolt

Make the tool. Stock type rings have tons of drag.

Did you check the end gaps of the new rings? You could have an oversize set BOXED WRONG in a STD. box!

You shouldn't need another gasket set - just replace the gaskets you need, when you tear it back down - if you do! I only use sealer on THE BLOCK SIDE to hold the gasket in position, light grease on the opposite side. Seals well and makes life easier if there is an 'oh chit', as in your situatation! Head gasket should be OK to reuse, since you haven't fired the engine.

Back off the rockers all the way, see how it turns over. Valve springs might be in coil bind. I adjust BOTH rockers at TDC of the compression stroke of each cylinder, or in that area - doesn't have to be precise. You'll see both lifters about even in the block too.

It's HARD not to think of 'worst case', but stay positive, work a step at a time, and you'll catch the issue, then correct it. Hopefully, you won't have a lot of extra work ahead!

Good Luck, Tim

I'd leave everything together and back off the rockers or even pull the push rods just to eliminate the valve springs binding possibility. Then I'd check bearings and lastly remove the head and pull a piston to check the rings. Bummer, but you'll get it and have a story to tell over a cold beer.

I'll throw my two cents in here, having just taken mine apart after a mystery noise. It's worth the drill. I set of gaskets are way cheaper than ruining or breaking something expensive. I've been wondering about ring gap as was mentioned above. You haven't mentioned that. I will say that mine seemed very tight during assembly. But then again it was pretty run out before the rebuild so I never had a feel for what was normal. I asked that very question on here. I do wonder though if you might not have the proper end play and clearance on that damper...

I didn't write them down but they were something like .027 at the bottom, and .045 at the top. I called Sealed Power, and they said that that was ok for a street rebuild, although they would recommend boring , with new pistons, and +.030 rings next time.

Just got off the phone with the machine shop that cleaned up, and magnafluxed my block, and where I bought my head. They recommend I turn it upside down, pull the pan, pull the rod caps, push the pistons to the head, then try to rotate the crank as a place to start. My mother is in the hospital right now, so this will probably be all on hold for a while.