Question for the engine builders. SR

[TheHustleHouse]

Motorset:

s13 SR20det
87mm over CP's 9.0:1
Seidia Rods
Clevite 77's rod,main, thrust .025over

Tomei solid lifter head, Pro cam 270's


Alright cliff notes of my story, a year ago my motor was being broken in after a fresh rebuild Oil return line ripped open oil drops out probably drove it 5 miles till i got home no warning light, no oil pressure light nothing was 40-60psi cruising.

Noticed slight knock at highway speeds, very slight but sounded exactly like rod knock.

Dropped my oil pan had some small shavings in it, which i would think is normal on a build that had like 200 miles on it still breaking in.

My main question is, when i was turning the crank by hand while looking at the crankshaft while under the car i noticed i could push on the big end of the rod attached to crank and make it move from side to side but not up and down. Probably less than 2mm from right to left but enough so where if i pushed hard enough could emulate rod knock noise. I have heard this is normal, as long as its not like a huge amount of play. What do u guys have to say?

anyone else with solid lifters notice any Mid to high Rpm noise? resembling Rod knock Lol..

I also have not yet took off the rod cap is check the bearings, ill be doing it tomorrow and updating this, i have some weird OCD where if i start taking it apart im gonna just end up rebuilding again.... trying to avoid it if i dont have too.

this is just one of many problems with this cursed POS.

Also before all this my car still stalled out and bogged down after recirculating my BOV, you think it could be a faulty IAC, CTS?

according to my Lc-1 my AFR when i let off the gas goes to 10:1 super rich.

[TheWolf]

What you are looking at is something called Connecting Rod Side Clearance. That is the maximum amount of space between the rod and the crank. It's not very important. I've seen SBC's running weird rods setups with over a 1/4" of side clearance. The idea behind the spec is that on a floating pin piston the connecting rod could walk over to one side and thus the thrust of the piston on the rod would not be centered and would cause the piston to thrust sideways in the bore. Rather towards the front or back of the motor in this case. I am unfamilair with Seidia rods but eagles and some manleys use extra side clearance to sling oil up into the cylinders instead of a squirter like on the stock rods. Check the FSM but if my memory is correct it's like .014"(stock)-.024" (eagles) clearance side to side. While I abhor the stuff, take the rod caps off and plastigauge them. That will solve the question of their clearance.

As for the fueling issues.. I'm not up on that..