Yo, ok I've searched more than every single member in this forum combined haha. I have searched in here, in DSM club, junk through google, my chiltons, online manuals, everything.. Now, I spun a rod bearing in my #4 cylinder, the bearing was totally gone, and basically layin in pieces/shrapnel in the bottom of my oil pan, I put a new bearing in and the rod still moves, so that means my rod is off round, my crank is off round (which I know it is, b/c its scratched up) or both. So I need to replace my crank and probably that rod. one problem is, on my bedplate, I cant get the oil filter screw off, I guess that is what you call it, its wehre you screw the oil filter on, I've heard it is bolted to the bedplate and I've heard you unscrew the whole thing (the part that it is screwed into, and it is connected to the bedplate). My next problem is, ok to remove my crank, I gotta disco it from the flywheel, I have read where it's easier to take my suspension and axle and that good stuff off for more room to work w/.. but what all do I disconnect to safely pull the tranny from the engine? I have the passenger side motor mount off already, and i know I gotta take the tranny/frame mount off too, but I havent done it yet. I just am very timid b/c I dont wanna break anything, I'm bout to give up til I have a lot of money saved and put a new bearing in, and just go w/ it, eventhough it'll eventually do the same thing again. I dont know if I'm gonna use a used crank or just get mine turned. I bought the re-ring kit from howell. Most places tell me to forget it, and get a new car or engine, but dude the problem is like 3 inches long, just alot of crap gotta be done to fix it, and I'm willin to do it, b/c this car is my baby. I could use some help peeps, thanks. peace

The Chilton's details how to pull the motor, r&r the crank, and put it back together. If you don't understand what you're reading, or are too worried about breaking something, then you need to take your car to someone who knows what they are doing. Not trying to be mean here, just realistic.

If you spin a rod bearing (are you sure it's #4? Usually 1 or 2 go since they're closest to the oil pump and the first starved of oil) you must replace the bearings, get the crank polished (at least) or turned (note this will mean you need oversize bearings), and the rod checked for out of round. Then it needs to be put together using plastigauge and torqued down so you can check the bearing clearances.

same thing happened to me. #4 cylinder according to satan. this was last may of 2002, and i was a retard about 2gnt's back then (before i really read the board much) so i trusted them and went with their reccomendation, $4000+ for a brand new factory rebuilt engine. what i should have done? acquired a new crank, and a rebuild kit and done the work myself. 10.5:1 would have been sick for the time that i didn't have a turbo, and it would have made some nice power once i got a turbo kit. if i was lucky it could have cost less than $2000.

if you're going to try to fix it yourself, i highly reccomend howell's 2.0 shortblock. they seemed to do a good job with mine. it's been about 4000 miles and everything's still tight. 180 psi of compression on all 4 cylinders. dunno about matt_98tgs (or whatever his screen name is, can't remember exactly) but he has the howell 2.0 shortblock and he doesn't like it at all. i think his oil pump seal died or something and there's a few other fubar things with it. it's about $2000, you're going to pretty much have to take the engine out anyways to fix the fubar bearing. would make life a lot easier to deal with. might as well upgrade little things here and there like ARP head studs, blah blah blah... howell will give you something like $250 for the old block anyways. that way, you can have high/normal/low forged internals ready for whatever you want to do with with them like an "blow the welds on your intake and have the floor fall out" shot of NAWWWWS (ha!), leet all-motor, or a turbo kit.

thanks fellers :) haha, maybe I should just fix it and forget a turbo, just invest in the almighty tornado :) haha... anyways thanks again. later

Yea, I had 0 luck with my Howell block, and even worse luck with their customer service. I can't say that I will give Howell's block my seal of approval, or even my seal of mediocre craftsmanship for that matter :rolleyes. I'm glad its working out well for you though.

>I'm bout to give up til I have a lot of money saved and put a
>new bearing in, and just go w/ it, eventhough it'll eventually
>do the same thing again. I dont know if I'm gonna use a used
>crank or just get mine turned. I bought the re-ring kit from
>howell. Most places tell me to forget it, and get a new car
>or engine, but dude the problem is like 3 inches long, just
>alot of crap gotta be done to fix it, and I'm willin to do it,
>b/c this car is my baby. I could use some help peeps, thanks.
> peace


I spun a bearing in mine as well... and i replaced the rod bearings twice (once w/ standard, and once w/ oversized). When u say it'll eventually do the same thing, bare in mind, each set only lasted one day for me before it was clanging like a mofo again. I was going to take the engine someplace and have the crank machined, and then i thought i'd save up and get the 2.2 stroker from howell... well, a couple months ago i found a used engine w/ 70K stock and rebuilt w/ only 5K on it since. I managed to get this gem for $400 cause the motor mounts, a few sensors, and the p/s pump were broke and the oil pan and oil pickup tube were destroyed. I should have it all back together and back in my ride sometime b4 the end of april. But if u look around, i was finding used motors w/ less than 60K on em for about $1000.

>Yo, ok I've searched more than every single member in this
>forum combined haha. I have searched in here, in DSM club,
>junk through google, my chiltons, online manuals, everything..
>Now, I spun a rod bearing in my #4 cylinder, the bearing was
>totally gone, and basically layin in pieces/shrapnel in the
>bottom of my oil pan, I put a new bearing in and the rod still
>moves, so that means my rod is off round, my crank is off
>round (which I know it is, b/c its scratched up) or both. So
>I need to replace my crank and probably that rod. one problem
>is, on my bedplate, I cant get the oil filter screw off, I
>guess that is what you call it, its wehre you screw the oil
>filter on, I've heard it is bolted to the bedplate and I've
>heard you unscrew the whole thing (the part that it is screwed
>into, and it is connected to the bedplate).

Yes, its one bolt sort of, that has that hex nut in the middle of it. Its more like a stud really. Just use a socket wrench and it will come off.

My next problem
>is, ok to remove my crank, I gotta disco it from the flywheel,
>I have read where it's easier to take my suspension and axle
>and that good stuff off for more room to work w/.. but what
>all do I disconnect to safely pull the tranny from the engine?
> I have the passenger side motor mount off already, and i know
>I gotta take the tranny/frame mount off too, but I havent done
>it yet. I just am very timid b/c I dont wanna break anything,
>I'm bout to give up til I have a lot of money saved and put a
>new bearing in, and just go w/ it, eventhough it'll eventually
>do the same thing again. I dont know if I'm gonna use a used
>crank or just get mine turned. I bought the re-ring kit from
>howell. Most places tell me to forget it, and get a new car
>or engine, but dude the problem is like 3 inches long, just
>alot of crap gotta be done to fix it, and I'm willin to do it,
>b/c this car is my baby. I could use some help peeps, thanks.
> peace


Just pull the whole motor out with the tranny still connected. Its really not much more work, and its actually a lot easier to do that way than pulling just the motor(i've done it both ways). I'm totally rebuilding my motor with forged pistons, rods, bearings, ect,and new clutch. Total cost of parts, machining and misc crap, comes out to around 2,000 bucks, and i got some good deals on stuff too. So keep that in mind.