We're done fitting the rotating assembly and are just about ready to put this thing together for good. Before we do so, we need to lightly grind the block at the locations we marked earlier. The block is carefully masked to prevent iron grindings contamination; even though the next step is a thorough cleaning, there's no sense in making our job more difficult. This is a typical stroker step, but use care not to go too far and ruin your block.
An engine cleaning kit like this one from Powerhouse Products (PN POW351307, $29.95) includes brushes of all shapes and sizes in order to enable scrubbing of all possible holes and passages in your block and crankshaft.
We do exactly that, and, in addition, all surfaces of the block are wiped with quality towels soaked in mineral spirits.
After a good cleaning themselves, our main bearing shells are put back in place in the block and are lubed with some gooey red Clevite Bearing Guard, a high-pressure protective lubricant available from Powerhouse for just $3.99. We'll also use this same stuff on the rod bearings when the time comes, as it offers excellent protection at startup.
With the upper half of our two-piece rear main seal in place (and with a light amount of RTV silicone used on its mating surfaces and in the surrounding block area), the crank now drops in place for good. The main caps can then be placed atop it-make sure they're in the correct place and orientation, and that their bearing shells are adequately lubed.
To secure our main caps, we're using ARP's High Performance series main bolts (PN 134-5202, $42.35 for four-bolt main engines). An excellent upgrade over the stockers, these 7/16-inch units are rated to 170,000 psi and will be able to handle the extra stresses incurred by our longer-throw crank.
After making sure to use plenty of moly assembly lube on the threads and on the washers, the bolts are installed and torqued to ARP's recommended 65 lb-ft.