Timebomb
09-01-2002, 09:57 AM
As many of you know I installed a 351 in my truck to replace the 302 that decided it wanted to eat a couple of pistons due to a blown lower radiator hose. I located what appeared to be a decent 351 out of a 88 truck and stupid me decided to just drop it in and hope for the best. Oil pressure was fine untill it warmed up and then dropped down next to nothing and it sounded like a couple of the rods where knocking...(I'm kicking myself for not checking the bearings before dropping it in the truck).
So this weekend I decided I'd try and raise the motor up high enough and drop the pan without pulling the motor out of the truck. After getting the pan off I noticed that rods on a couple of the cylinders where very loose so I pulled the rod caps off and the bearings where worn badly and the crank had some nice groves in it so I thought I'd try pollishing with some emory cloth and install fresh bearings and hope for the best. After I did the first one and reinstalled the rod cap I noticed that I could still move it around enough to probably cause some knocking. Well shit... then I decided to pull the main caps off and they where about in the same shape as the rod bearings. So it was time to weigh my options...I could probably have put it back together and ran it for a little while and then be back in the same boat, or I could spend a couple more hours and pull the motor out again and take the crank out and have it turned and not have to worry about it. I thought the best thing to do was to go ahead and pull the motor and get the crank machined and do it right the first time.
This motor was very clean and other than the bearings it was very clean and never blew any smoke during the 2K I put on it with the bad bearings. The cylinder walls look to be in good shape.
The moral to the story is whenever I go through the hassle of putting a new motor in I will check the bearings from now on! Lesson learned!
I should have it all back together by next weekend.
Brent
So this weekend I decided I'd try and raise the motor up high enough and drop the pan without pulling the motor out of the truck. After getting the pan off I noticed that rods on a couple of the cylinders where very loose so I pulled the rod caps off and the bearings where worn badly and the crank had some nice groves in it so I thought I'd try pollishing with some emory cloth and install fresh bearings and hope for the best. After I did the first one and reinstalled the rod cap I noticed that I could still move it around enough to probably cause some knocking. Well shit... then I decided to pull the main caps off and they where about in the same shape as the rod bearings. So it was time to weigh my options...I could probably have put it back together and ran it for a little while and then be back in the same boat, or I could spend a couple more hours and pull the motor out again and take the crank out and have it turned and not have to worry about it. I thought the best thing to do was to go ahead and pull the motor and get the crank machined and do it right the first time.
This motor was very clean and other than the bearings it was very clean and never blew any smoke during the 2K I put on it with the bad bearings. The cylinder walls look to be in good shape.
The moral to the story is whenever I go through the hassle of putting a new motor in I will check the bearings from now on! Lesson learned!
I should have it all back together by next weekend.
Brent