I opened up my 200 because the flywheel would not rotate fully and was stopping after 210 degrees of rotation. After removing everything relative, one at a time and getting no resolve, I removed the oil pan. This is what I can see visually. 1) Two rod caps are hitting the side of the block, thus stopping the crank from rotating. 2) Two different rod caps are hitting the cam, thus stopping the crank from rotating. The camshaft is notched at intervals where the caps would come close but they are out of sync. I am now thinking someone removed the timing cover and chain and did not get the dots lined up. That should account for the misalignment. Does that sound correct? I have no idea why the caps are hitting the side of the block though. Any ideas???
Dumb question, semi-on topic... Would a 250 crank bolt into a 200 block? If it can be bolted into the engine, it seems to me that it would then have this sort of clearance problem.
A 250 crank will not fit but I am now suspecting that someone played around with the engine. It is possible that 250 caps were installed but that is a long shot. This engine actually turned over very smoothly by hand until it reached its limit. I found no problems with the walls, the crankcase was relativley clean. I was told by the guy who sold it that the engine had been rebuilt and it obvioulsy ran as evidenced by the carbon buildup in the cylinders. As I stated originally, it appears that someone messed with the timing chain. I think this guy knew something was up as he painted the engine to look like it had been gone through. Anyhow, I was going to just run it for a daily driver originally, but now it is going to the shop. They will find the problem immediatley when they tear it down and check the parts. I am through messing with it. This is a strange one on me. I have gone through a lot of 200 engines and never seen anything like this before. As Mavman stated, it may end up being a trashed crank.
