First and foremost, I cant speak highly enough of Terry Burtz and John Lampl. They both took time out of their day to help methodically go through the issues and find a solution. Customer service is just as important as quality in my book, and those 2 hit it out of the park.
I'm pleased to say, we now have a freely turning crank without any wear marks on the bearings.
Summary:
Cause of initial problem with crank locking up - A combination of my inexperience and undersized slots on the bearing caps for the anti-rotation lugs. The anti-rotation slots on bearing caps #1, #2 and #4 were undersized which caused the crank to seize when torqued. My inexperience led me to believe the Clevite CB745P bearings were at fault, so I proceeded to file down the bearing ends to provide more clearance. Variability between bearing color and anti-rotation notch size influenced that rookie decision.
Undersized notches
Bearing in undersized notch
Variability of Clevite bearings
Proper example of notch clearance can be seen on the block, which had no issues
The solution - New Federal Mogul 2020CP bearings were purchased. It's important to note that there appears to be more uniformity with the Mogul bearings over Clevite bearings. A dremel tool with fiber cut-off wheel was used to enlarge the bearing anti-rotation notch in bearing cap #4, A needle file was used to clean up an slightly enlarge the notches in bearing caps #1 and #2. Upon inspection, there appeared to be adequate notch clearance so everything was meticulously cleaned and prepared. The bearings and crank were installed followed by bearings/caps with oiled plastigauge. Hardware was torqued to 30 ft-lbs from the center of the crank moving outward and again at 55 ft-lbs to achieve the specified torque value. The plasigauge readings were as follows:
Journals
1A - .002"
1B - .001"
2 - .002"
3A - .001"-
3B - .001"
4 - .0015"
5A - .0035"
5B - .0035"
The caps/crank were removed, everything reinstalled with proper lubrication. Upon torqueing the hardware, it was apparent we had found a solution to the problem as the crank rotated beautifully. Endplay was rechecked and found to be .0035", within specification.
Conclusion - At the end of the day, with the help of Terry and this forum, we got the crank in and functioning properly....a big win if you ask me. I can't imagine the logistics that go into producing such a specialized product as this and therefore respect all involved with making it come to fruition. This was a big learning experience for me and hopefully will become a resource for others. Terry mentioned he's going to revisit the tool path for the notches to ensure future caps are correct. Looking forward to completing this build and installing the engine in the car. Thanks everyone.
Lessons learned:
Thoroughly clean the water jacket to remove sand and debris. A 7" wire was found inside the jacket.
Do not modify bearings.
Mogul 2020CP bearings appear to be of higher quality than Clevite CB-745P.
Inspect bearing anti-rotation notch clearance.
Fully torque caps down before attempting to move the crank.
Only measure critical clearance when oiled.
I have a lot to learn.