Good afternoon Gents and any Ladies that may be following along. I have a quick question, even though it really won't solicit that quick of an answer. I am trying to get my "Bertha" back on the road. To make a long story short, about 5--7 years ago I cracked the block of my engine doing a coolant flush. You may think, how the heck did you crack the block doing a flush? Well, i did the flush for the radiator (the whole cooling system taken out, cleaned and put back in), but wanted to clean out any debris from the engine ports as well. So I was to run water in the system and drain/flush it out a few times consecutively. It got late in the day, so I filled it with water only and would finish up the next day. Unfortunately, i got caught in one of Texas's surprise overnight freezes. I thought i waited long enough for it to thaw out ( a few days), but apparently i was wrong. I turned the engine over and there it went, it cracked the block with the ice that was still in it. So....I went to the JY to pick up another engine. I was simply going to replace some gaskets and just drop it in. Again unfortunately, I couldn't get it swapped out in time so i had the engine stored in a storage garage and the truck stored at a laydown yard for a few years. Fast forward to now, I am now ready to install the engine. I have taken most of the external parts off, cleaned, painted what i can. I was ready to put the engine in when i tried to turn it by the balancer bolt and it was ceased. Apparently when i brough the engine home a couple years ago, I put it on the stand. I had it covered for a couple of years and thought i did a good job of covering it from the elements. Unfortunately, when it ceased, i took the heads off to see what was going on. Apparently water had gotten in one of the cylinder ports and sealed it to where it wouldn't move up and down the port. I have since removed all the pistons down to the cam and crankshafts. My goal at this point has always been to do a refresh rebuild for now. I have a doner truck with a 302 in it that I will take my time and rebuild with rockers, machining and such. But I don't want to do a lot of machining and major upgrading on this particular engine. Therefore, i want to do a refresh rebuild on a budget. Besides the goof up at one of the ports, the overall condition of the engine is in pretty good shape. The bearings are obviously worn a bit, but not too excesssively. A few copper showings, but no gouges or anything. It will require a hone to get the hatching marks back, but not full blown machine job. I want it back to as close to stock as possible, no exhaust upgrades beyond what is there. I am reinstallin the OE manifolds (one is new as the other one cracked). It does lead into a flowmaster muffler (single in 2.25 -dual out 2.5) with nice square ends just behind each tire. Again, that was installed when i bout the truck in '07. I said all that to say this, what is the typical wear on a set of OE bearings and rings? Again, i am not talking of ragging, racing or high performance type activities. Assuming this engine has never been machined, and have the typical 150K+ miles on it, would a standard set of bearings and rings work? I know I am asking you to make a lot of assumptions, but work with me on this. Would it hurt to go up one size on the bearings (say .010) as well as the rings a similar single step up? I don't know the difference when they ask oversized or undersized. I also assume the larger the number the more material has been removed from the shafts? Any guidance on a refresh-rebuild would be appreciated.

 

Honestly, it sounds like you are at a point where it might be worth the time and money to get it to a machine shop if for no other reason to determine what the real condition of the motor is.