The crankshaft is a factory nodular iron piece. It's been turned .010 under on the main journals and .020 on the rod journals. The oil passages have been chamfered on the journals to increase oil flow. The crank will be spinning in grooved Clevite bearings.
It doesn't get any more old school than this. TRW forged aluminum pistons P/N: L2262F-30 on reconditioned stock rods with ARP rod bolts. For rings I used Speed Pro moly rings.
I carefully set the crank into the block making sure not to nick the journals. With the ARP main studs the factory torque specs are no longer used. After installing the cumbersome rope rear main seal (rubber ones are available) I torqued the rear main 120 ft lbs and the rest 90 ft lbs with the supplied ARP moly lube on the bolt threads. The machine shop checked the bearing clearances for me but I still re-checked them with plastigauge.
I'm doing this a little bit backwards. It's easier to install the camshaft before the crank because it's easier to navigate it through the block without nicking the cam bearings. So the cam in question is a dual pattern Crane cam with .467 lift and 222 degrees duration @ .050 on the intake and .494 lift and 234 degrees duration @ .050 on the exhaust. Pontiacs,especially ones with stock type heads like dual pattern cams due to weak flowing cylinder heads on the exhaust side. I used some of the sticky Comp cams assembly lube on the cam.
After checking ring endgap and installing the rings,It was time to slam in the slugs. I used an adjustable tapered ring compressor. All was going well until I broke a piston ring which halted all forward progress on the engine. Since it's an engine thats been out of production for 30 years It's gonna be at least 3 to 5 business days before the replacements are in. What a huge letdown.
When installing the pistons I used these cool Clevite "bolt booties" to prevent any crank damage. The cheap alternative is to use some spare fuel line on the bolts. As soon as my replacement piston rings comes in I'll be back with part 3 cylinder heads and valvetrain
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