how much torque is expected in a 440 without sparkplugs

[christianlarsen]

Hi, I have a freshly re-build 440 (actually its a 511 stroker). I cannot start it because it wont turn when the spark plugs are in.
I suspect i need to file more of the piston rings, but i wonder how much torque is exptected when the engine i installed but the sparkplugs are out.
My engine turns around 45 lbf ft (63 nm) without the plugs in, is that normal ? (the engine is installed in the car when testing)

/Christian

[heyoldguy]

45 ft-lbs with the spark plugs removed is quite reasonable. I would expect that there is a problem with the starter system. Loose connection, weak battery/starter, too small of cables. I'm curious, what compression ratio do you have?

[christianlarsen]

The compression ratio should be around 10.3 (calculated).

I never filed pistons rings before and the starter has worked fine with the same engine setup previously, so I hope that "its just me" that need to get up to speed on piston rings. Story is that i burned 2 pistons due to faulty timing (had the unfortunate luck of using a summit balancer that spun 75 deg. causing us to read the timing slighty wrong  ). So I changed the bearings and all the pistons with a new set (with same specs as the old ones) except that i had to file the piston rings myself.

Any learning tips regarding filing off the correct amount of piston rings ? I measured and filed each ring repeatedly for each cylinder but I suspect I was afraid to file too much of the rings. I have been amaing for a gap of 0.02" for top rings and 0.021" for 2nd ring (according to the install papers that came with the rings), does that sound correct ?

[Kern Dog]

My tech sheet showed .004 for every inch of bore size for the top ring. With a 4.35 bore (.030 over 440) that = .0174. That is on the tight end. The second ring was supposed to be a little looser.
My 493 has .020 top and .22 second rings and all is well.

[christianlarsen]

Thnx for info Red!
I have 4.25 bore and sheet says * .005 = 0.021 for top ring. I can see that i did that math allright when compairing to your numbers, so I guess its up to my thumb and the filer now

Thanx