No wonder | Case 580 CK backhoe, unable to get the carb adjusted correctly

For some values of "ran a little rough"...

Stop to think for a minute about what you said. You said STP wasn't a lubricant, and in the same breath said it might cause thr shell to spin - Now which is it?????.

ANd STP is at least 60% mineral oil and petroleum distilates according to it's MSDS, so it IS a lubricant. That oil base carries Calcium long-chain alkylphenate sulfide and some also carries ZDDP.

The spun bearing failure was very likely contributed to by the STP - but there's a good chance something else wasn't right too

No idea, but when the engine is warmed up a diesel will run on just about anything. Not necessarily WELL - but well enough to destroy itself!!

VERY profitable when you buy for scrap price and buy all parts at dealer cost and do all the reconditioning in-house.

I said it wasn't a lubricant. I didn't say it wasn't at all slippery. Big difference.

Now it is. As with WD-40, oil (or more oil) was added to later formulations.

Yeah, I didn't watch the entire "rebuild", but I doubt he had the crank turned and got the proper bearings for it. I don't recall seeing any calipers, mikes, or other measurement tools anywhere. The Shade didn't plastigauge anything AFAIK.

Clamping a bearing cap down on a honey-dipped bearing and crank with no oil likely added to the stress which caused the notch to degrade when it was first started up. Then the guy took it on the road at freeway speeds without any breakin. As I said, Shadetree, a perfect example of an untrained person in a used car dealership which gave used car dealers the bad name.

STP has ALWAYS had a petroleum oil carrier - and has ALWAYS been more "oil" than "active ingredient"

and the big ends were likely pounded out to the point the standard bearing shells had no crush crush left - they would have spun even if he'd installed them with loc-tite

I remember researching it back then and recall different results. YMMV

I was taught to mix STP with an equal volume of oil as an engine assembly lube. I don't remember whether that was a mechanic's hearsay or a chemistry professor's expert advice. They did discuss petroleum chemistry and how STP and other long chain polymeric additives function, and why modern engine oil needs scheduled changing while older non-detergent oil could last the (shorter) life of the engine.

-jsw

That's what STP (the days of paper!) said back in '72, when I saw the shadetree screw the pooch. I think it was about 12oz/crankcase. I used white lithium grease for assembly lube after plastigauging for fit.

In 1972 the personnel at my car's dealership spoke only German. I didn't ask them any difficult questions.

Lithium grease may be OK for an engine you will start within a short time of assembly - no good at all if the engine is going to sit, as the grease "sets up"

There is specific engine assembly lube made and marketted for the purpose.

Stuff like Permatex UltraSlick - or LocTite 8027 assembly lube, or CRC StaLube, or Lucas Assembly Lube That said, builders have been using STP and Casite 3C and "motor honey" for decades with good results. I'd use ANY of them long before I'd use Lubri-Plate whitr lithium grease - for sure. That crap just turns to whitr blobs in the oil on startup.

Yeah, I immediately ran the Javelin engine I built.

Good!

Nowadays, I'd buy one of their engines or build the Tundra into an electric. I'd have gone hybrid if they built a hybrid Tundra in '07.