How worn do these main bearings and cam look?

JBatch · 01-23-2013, 05:38 PM

I'm in the process of replacing my short block. I thought I would take a look at the main bearings and camshaft to see how much damage the seized oil pump caused. Pics are below. I pulled the center 3 caps. The bad part is I had less than 10k on this motor. Of course it sat for years.

To those who have more experience with rebuilds, does this wear look normal or excessive? Any chance of salvaging, or should I go with the re-manufactured short block?

Mustang_zulu · 01-23-2013, 06:22 PM

links no working....

JBatch · 01-23-2013, 06:38 PM

Thanks Mustang Zulu...I must have used the wrong link. I fixed it so the images should appear now.

gregb · 01-23-2013, 07:05 PM

Those look pretty bad. But since you say the oil pump seized then no oil will kind of do that.

Nigel · 01-23-2013, 07:12 PM

Looks burned. They are a inexpensive replacement.

Lee12609 · 01-23-2013, 07:40 PM

New bearings sized to the new crank and I'd pick up another cam and lifter set.

JeffTepper · 01-23-2013, 07:56 PM

The bearings look damaged, not merely "worn" so I'm not sure what you are looking for here. What do the crank journals and the rest of the reciprocating parts look like? Measure everything to see what is salvageable then make your decision.

beechkid · 01-23-2013, 08:23 PM

Yeah, time to replace all the bearings, have the crank & cam checked by a machine shop for straightness, etc (if you decide to keep....

Mustang_zulu · 01-24-2013, 05:27 AM

copper showing... find a new engine or have the short block assembly machined... i would like to see pics of the crank and rod jurnals too... but the copper is the key... when u see that... your lucky the engine didn't lock up or toss a rod... very lucky...new bearings however will be a waste of time... what happened that you tore the engine apart? 289/302/351w engines are pretty much dime a dozen, so unless your engine is the matching engine for your car and its std bore and all.... you might want to look around... a full short block machine wont be cheap and for a little more you usually can find a new engine, not just a reman....

tom991 · 01-24-2013, 09:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JBatch

I'm in the process of replacing my short block. I thought I would take a look at the main bearings and camshaft to see how much damage the seized oil pump caused. Pics are below. I pulled the center 3 caps. The bad part is I had less than 10k on this motor. Of course it sat for years.

To those who have more experience with rebuilds, does this wear look normal or excessive? Any chance of salvaging, or should I go with the re-manufactured short block?

Bearings are gone. I'd take the block to a machine shop and have them check it out. The connecting rods too since they may have been stressed.

ScottsGT · 01-24-2013, 12:53 PM

As long as you didn't spin a bearing, throw in a crank kit and keep going. Hard to tell how that cam is. Flat tappet or roller? If you didn't keep lifters in same bore, replace lifters. You will damage a crank long before the cam will go due to no oil.
BUT, inspect closer. I would be concerned about the cam bearings too.

Lee12609 · 01-24-2013, 01:17 PM

I assumed by replacing short block he meant replacing the short block not machining or reusing anything. Can we get clarification.

ScottsGT · 01-24-2013, 04:11 PM

Be careful on just picking up a short block based on price alone. There are a lot of parts that can come from China that will find their way into generic short blocks on the market.

bartl · 01-24-2013, 05:57 PM

I wouldn't bother with a short block unless your machinist can't clean up the cylinder bores without going past .040" over. Definitely have the rods checked and resized, new cam bearings, mains, rods and either a new crank, or if yours can be turned and polished to .010 under, even .020 under if need be, but no more than that. New oil pump, pick up and driveshaft, and check the distributor gear and the shaft for twisting.

JBatch · 01-25-2013, 08:37 AM

Mustang Zulu...I tore the engine apart because the oil pump seized. After replacing it and the lifters there was some engine noise, low oil pressure and lack of hp/tq. I will get a picture of the journals once the sun comes up, but they are in much better shape than the bearings.

ScottsGT...it's a non-roller cam. It's hard to see in the picture, but the cam has what appear to be burn makrs. And since I'm not 100% certain what was causing the noise, I'd hate to leave anything under the hood that hasn't been checked. I believe the short block I'm looking at is made in Mexico. Not sure if that is any better than China. I'd love to spring for something brand new, but it's simply not in the budget.

Lee12609 bartl...I definetly want to put in a different remanufactured short block. I have nothing against taking the one I have to a machine shop, but the price quotes I've received for doing the work you described is as high, and even higher in some cases, as replacing the short block alltogether. The only difference I see is I will have to wait a week for the shop to do the work as compared to doing a straight exchange and dropping the new block in the same day. Let me know if I'm missing something. Also, I looked up some rebuild kits and they cost more than the remanufactured short block. Does that make any sense?

Thanks for the replies guys. I'm taking the heads off today to check the valves. I checked and replaced a few of them less than a 1k miles ago. So I'm hoping not much work will be needed on them. Does anyone now how to check to make sure the heads aren't warped without taking them to a shop? I ask because there appears to be a tiny separation from the driver side head and the block. I'll take a picture today to show what I mean. It could be nothing, but thought I'd ask.