I came across an old 350 Four motor with a mate of mine the other day. Well not the complete deal but the two half shell castings of it.
We spend much time looking at it, and especially the half-shell bearing areas.
Standing there looking at the old casting we simultaneous asked the same question. What about axial forces of the crankshaft. The halfshell bearings can deal with the radial loads, but not the axial. It appeared, as the crank is free flowing in its lengthy direction and not supported in any way.
The conrods and pistons will support/limit the movement but we find it hard to believe that is all.
Can anyone here help us to understand what limits the crankshaft from moving left/right in the block?
P.S. The castings was pretty beat up and corroded, so we might have missed something, but we could not see evidence of thrust-bearings.
Regards
Pete
