Checking Rod and Main Bearings
12-31-2008, 01:05 AM
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Checking Rod and Main Bearings OK, I bought a LT1 longblock a few weeks back and I was told that it had 62K miles on it and the heads were freshly rebuilt, but I wondered why it had brass freeze plugs in it. Well......I got the pan off and the bottom end has also been rebuilt (or at least freshened up). So I called the guy that had it before me and I got the number for the guy he bought it from. He had the motor in a 1996 vette with a cam of some sort and he spun a rod bearing with it. He says he had the crank ground down .010 and he had the rods reconditioned. Everything checked out good he said (block, crank, and rods were all magnafluxed and heads are not cracked or warped). It was not bored .030 over because there is seriously no ring ridge, but the main caps have been numbered and the crank has been balanced beyond GM's doing. I have never really messed with a bottom end before, but I was thinking that it might not be a bad idea to pull a main cap and a rod cap at the least and check the bearings over. Can this be done with the engine already being assembled and not mess anything up? I want to install ARP rod bolts, ARP main studs, and check all of the bearing clearances if I do it. I may even just buy new Clevite bearings and put in it while I am there, but I don't want to mess anything up in the bottom end.
