Summary

00:00 - Aurelio has asked, can you touch on crankshaft end play and how this can be adjusted? OK so yep absolutely crankshaft end play, also called thrust movement, basically what we're talking about is the crankshaft moving backwards and forwards in the engine block.
00:18 Now this is supported and controlled by the thrust bearings in the engine block.
00:22 And while they're not as critical as the rest of the bearings in the engine, the clearances aren't quite so critical, we still need to check and make sure everything is within specification there.
00:34 So generally this comes into being important in a manual transmission car when we're engaging and disengaging the clutch because obviously that applies and end force or end loading on the crankshaft trying to force the crankshaft forward and backwards in the engine block and that's supported by those thrust bearings.
00:50 So the important aspect there is checking during a dummy assembly.
00:53 Generally the easiest way of doing this is by fitting a dial gauge onto the snout of the crankshaft and then we can use a couple of pry bars and basically we'll pry the crankshaft backwards and forwards in the engine block and we can measure thrust clearance.
01:08 If it is outside of the manufacturer's specification, then there are a couple of options there, often there are oversized thrust bearings that are available in the aftermarket or from the OE manufacturer, so these can be incorporated but will require the thrust surfaces of the crankshaft to be machined as well so that's generally how we go about doing that.
01:31 Basically in my own experience, unless the crankshaft is damaged on the thrust surfaces, and is showing excessive wear, it's very very rare that we'll have a problem with the thrust or end flow in the crankshaft because partly the tolerance is quite a lot wider than what we have for our main bearings or for our connecting rod bearings.
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