Crank Polishing required?

If there's LIGHT scoring (lines that run the circumferance of the journal) that I can _just_ feel with my fingernail, is it necessary to polish that out when putting NEW bearings in?
Thanks
-Steel.

That would be the LEAST I would do.Normally if you can feel it with your finger nail its deeper than you think there for turning it would be the wise thing to do.

I would think it depends on the intended use. If it will be a moderate RPM street application, polishing to eliminate the raised area around the score would probably be fine. If it is a high rpm race application, you probably want the journals turned then polished to completely eliminate the score.

Can someone go over how to polish the journals properly?
[addsig]

If it needs much of a polish at all, take it in and have it reground. Polishing tends to get the journals out of round. The more you polish, the more out they get.

I had a crank I thought was in good shape. Turns out, excessive polishing had it 0.0008" out of round. When you are dealing with clearances that are only around 0.0020", that is significant.

Good Luck!
[addsig]

Polishing can lead to an out of round condition and your oil pressure will suffer ( condition lower oil pressure at idle similar to worn bearings ) It is not worth it to chance it , I had mine cut just .010", with .010" oversize bearings. Would you chance the motor over $ 150.00 .
Remember Anything you Leave to Chance can Bite You in the Ass !

Thanks for the replies, fellahs.. I think I'm going to just leave it for the time being (until next spring) because the scoring was not significant...just BARELY feel it with fingernail...I plan to remove everything next year anyways, to bore 40 over and re-piston it..

Incase you do want to polish the crank a tad, try this....

get some WD-40 or similar, some emory cloth about an inch wide, a couple feet of cotton rope about 1/4" in diameter. Spray the crank journal and emory cloth with WD-40 and wrap it around the crank and then wrap the rope around the emory cloth. Pull on each end of the rope one at a time and let the rope and emory cloth go from one side of the journal to the other. You can at least get the high spots out and it won't take much of the metal off the crank.
[addsig]