Posted by kswebb (IP: 24.93.247.116) on March 22, 2000 at 10:07:45:
In Reply to: Ongoing 302 rebuild... posted by Brian on March 22, 2000 at 08:50:47:
: Seems I've been at this now for six months, but, only since January. I finally had time to finish tearing down my 302 last night. Previous owner said the lower end was rebuilt, now 30k miles ago. Somehow I doubt this. After inspecting the main and rod bearings, only three bearing halves did not have uneven wear or show copper. This is really not a big deal as I have a complete .020 crank kit for the engine. However, someone threw a monkey wrench in earlier this week. A co-worker said that I would have to get new main caps because the crank in the kit had been turned. Is this true? I thought that the difference in was made up in bearing size/thickness. This is my first rebuild and this bit of info confused me. Any help is, as always, appreciated.
:
: Thanks,
: Brian
You,re coworker is full of BS as long as the main saddles and caps are in good condition and in correct alignment you will be fine.You are correct that the bearings are the difference.PS: make sure you plasti gauge the bearings when you install them as i have seen mixups in kits in which one or more of the bearings was an incorrect size(both the rods and mains)ON the rods its not so bad the crank is either locked up or the engine knocks but on the mains its a different story The crank can break from flexing .Then the engine usually spits the rods thru the side of the block not pretty.The best advice i can give you is take you're time, don't cut any corners,double check everything,and get everything clean befor you reassemble.Do it right the first time and you won't have to do it again