Hey guys
I rebuilt my stock lower - new bearing, new McMaster bushings, etc. Drove the car three times - maybe a total of 15mins, just around the neighborhood as it'd been apart for about a year, see if anything leaked, etc. Got into boost a couple of times. Needless to say, not a lot of driving and no sustained pulls etc.
Thought I was dealing with an alternator/charging issue, but turns out the small-end threads on the caged lower stripped and the tribar/pulley was not engaging and turning blower/alternator.
I'm on the fence here. These caged lowers are a pain in the ass to install/remove, disassemble/rebuild, etc. I've stripped the small-end threads before just taking them apart. I have a 2.9 whipple, 25lbs, stock engine aside from head studs. I run the stock lower pulley (obviously) with a 3.0" upper.
I'd like to go with another cage for the support it gives to the crank snout. But having trouble finding one that doesn't need to be taken apart and rebuilt. And that's a gamble as the threads can gall just undoing the tribar.
I know there are tons of cars out there running IW/Metco or ATI/Metco, which I should probably just do. The question floating out there is "how much support does the cage provide that I'm giving up going w Metco?"
So, any thoughts/discussion would be appreciated. I've combed through lots of threads prior to posting and found pros/cons to either option.
Anyone have a caged lower ready to bolt up and run, good bushings/bearing?
Thanks a lot
Phil
I rebuilt my stock lower - new bearing, new McMaster bushings, etc. Drove the car three times - maybe a total of 15mins, just around the neighborhood as it'd been apart for about a year, see if anything leaked, etc. Got into boost a couple of times. Needless to say, not a lot of driving and no sustained pulls etc.
Thought I was dealing with an alternator/charging issue, but turns out the small-end threads on the caged lower stripped and the tribar/pulley was not engaging and turning blower/alternator.
I'm on the fence here. These caged lowers are a pain in the ass to install/remove, disassemble/rebuild, etc. I've stripped the small-end threads before just taking them apart. I have a 2.9 whipple, 25lbs, stock engine aside from head studs. I run the stock lower pulley (obviously) with a 3.0" upper.
I'd like to go with another cage for the support it gives to the crank snout. But having trouble finding one that doesn't need to be taken apart and rebuilt. And that's a gamble as the threads can gall just undoing the tribar.
I know there are tons of cars out there running IW/Metco or ATI/Metco, which I should probably just do. The question floating out there is "how much support does the cage provide that I'm giving up going w Metco?"
So, any thoughts/discussion would be appreciated. I've combed through lots of threads prior to posting and found pros/cons to either option.
Anyone have a caged lower ready to bolt up and run, good bushings/bearing?
Thanks a lot
Phil