My crank is in and torqued nice,put all the pistons and rods together in right holes with moly and oil on bearing and oiled the pistons,gapped rings.This sucker is stiff to turn with balancer.Engine is a 451,i have never messed a bigger engine like this..is it normal to be stiff like this?Everything oiled.

New engines can be stiff. Is this just the short block or do you have the heads on it?

Did you seat the thrust bearing?

What kind of crank do you have? On many aftermarket cranks the journals often have a large fillet radius than can grab the edges of stock style bearings and bind things up.

Well when freshly lubed, the crank should spin nice and freely. If the crank alone was hard to spin, that's probably where the problem is. But with the pistons installed, it will make the assembly harder to spin for sure. Also, since you're using a piston with a shorter skirt, you may have a little less friction. And the choice of piston rings will affect resistance too e.g., 5/64, 5/64, 3/16 vs. 1/16, 1/16, 3/16.

Can you describe how hard it is to turn? You're talking without heads and spark plus installed right?

I know it's a little late for this, but I like to check the turning torque with a good quality beam type torque wrench as each item is installed. eg. 1st. main cap gets torqued, I check turning torque. 2nd. cap the same and so on as each rod/piston assembly goes in. It's best to check turning torque on cam before installing timing chain. This way if you get a sudden and disproportionate increase in resistance you know right where the problem lies. Since it's too late to do it this way, the best you can do now is to put a beam wrench on the damper bolt and see just how much torque it takes to turn it over. This will at least give you an objective # as opposed to a subjective "I think it's tight". Once you get a real number you can get back to the board and we may be able to give a more informed opinion.

The crank alone should spin easy. Also, if the pistons and rods were installed without piston rings, it should spin easy. the drag on the rings will make it harder to spin, but if it is really difficult, I would start looking at the rod bearings and caps to make sure the caps are installed correctly and the bearings are not dragging on the chamfer of the crank (If an aftermarket crank.)

What the previous 2 posters said. Biggest drag on reciprocating assy should be the rings, ergo low-tension rings on race cars. Crank should turn freely in the block when no pistons/rods are attached to it.

5/64 rings its the crank/rods/pistons.No heads.I used moly paste with a little 15w40 Rottella on bearings.Pistons dipped,put it soaked.I just got in so out of the shop for the night.I will put a beam wrench on it tommorow and report the reading.I think its the fresh rings,moly paste,15/40,not being us to turning a big block(my first).

It turn like butter with out the pistons/rods,turned ok till about the last two.I can turn it by the balancer by gripping it but takes alot of force.Engine was tore down with approx only 2500 miles on it for wiped cam and lifter,it ran great held 80 psi,reved like a 340,but had it pro honed,new rings i gapped and just am nervous a bit.I have learned alot about the b engine but still am a hair on the a** to many of you.Ill post the break away torque spec tommorow.
Thank you guys big for the help.

...oh its a under cut fillet factory forge peice.

What are your rod/main bearing clearances. Was the crank ground or polished?
If it was ground,did any of the rod journals require weld repairs? A reground weld repaired journal will have a larger radius than the factory under cut style,possibly causing bearing side clearance problems, D.

What Troy had me do when I assemble my 416 short block was to check the rotating torque, with beam torque wrench, after each piston was installed and recorded that. You should see a linear progression of torque amount. Like after every piston it should roughly gain the same amount.

Careful trying to compare the gain in torque to another motor or build. The type and amount of assembly lube and assembly oil thickness, and just method of applying the lube can change those amount by a lot.

Crank went in polished to its orig home( far as last run together),it is smooth.Hasnt been modified.
I think the moroso moly paste i put on the bearing might be the culprit.I will post the beam wrench reading tomorrow

x 99.9 ... get an actual torque-spec on the roll-over.

I'd say you're prob good. (as you know) rings have alot of drag. I would "shake" your rods, grab each one & move it back/forth to see if you have side clearance on the journal.

Yeah the rods shake nice.OK put the beam to it and gathered 38 lbs of resistance.Tell me im cool please!!I wanna get this jive turkey mostly together today!!
Thanks all of ya for the help

38ft/lbs sounds OK to me?

I agree sound like ring friction to me.

Did you whack the crank front and back with a big rubber mallet to set the trust bearing???

If block was torque plated it will turn smother once heads are on!

Just honed no torque plate.The rolling pressure was slight less,ok i must be cool then,im getting back on the rest of it now,believe you me if i have any probs you guys will be the first to hear ,when its all done we'll celebrate with a you tube video of it running and drivin,hopefully within the next month!!!!!!!!!!!