Well I finally got the old 53 down to my Dad's garage. Got the engine out and the Crank. I figured out what went wrong last rebuild. As far as I can see, on initial start up the bearings were dry, even though I had them coated with white grease, it has sat three years and must have dried up. The two inner main bearings took a large beating no babbit left. Rods and outter weren't bad (if they had been older), but for 1/2 hour worth of running, they had a lot more wear then there should have been. The crank is scored and burnt on those inners. I hope it can be saved. Its at the machinests tonight. Someone had mentioned in one of my old posts when the engine failed, that i should run the gear pump with an electric drill first. I wish I had known this. So for all you first timers out there:
Stick a rod with a flat end down your distributer hole, hook it up to an electric drill and spin spin spin.
Don't trust white grease, or any engine thats sat for a while. These old engines need oil on those bearings. Is that why they called them Babbit Pounders??? Hahahaha
