Okay, I have everything for my rebuild including JE .020 over 8.8:1 Pistons, JE .020 rings, Eagle rods, Melling oil pump, lower gasket kit, head gasket kit, Spec Stage 4 clutch, New timing and Idler bearings, timing belt, Water pump, Thermostat, crank scraper, and now I need to get bearings. I'm gonna go with the Clevitte rod and main bearings from Howell unless anyone knows where I can get them for cheaper. I don't know what size of bearing to get for the rods and main. The car had 87,000 with stock internals and ran perfect, just wanted it to be stronger. What do I look at when looking for wear on the crank journals, just scoring? WHAT SIZE BEARINGS DO I NEED? The stuff didn't "look" to be worn hardley at all, this is my first rebuild, so I'm new to things this time around though. Any help and advice on what to do from here would be greatfully appreciated. I'm planning to have the machine shop here balance everything and assemble it for me, other than that, I'm doing the rest. Anything I'm missing here? Thanks for all the help so far guys.
~Jeffo


Hey, have you seen my new tail lights? Yeah, cool huh, get used to looking at them.

Originally posted by powellds
Okay, I have everything for my rebuild including JE .020 over 8.8:1 Pistons, JE .020 rings, Eagle rods, Melling oil pump, lower gasket kit, head gasket kit, Spec Stage 4 clutch, New timing and Idler bearings, timing belt, Water pump, Thermostat, crank scraper, and now I need to get bearings. I'm gonna go with the Clevitte rod and main bearings from Howell unless anyone knows where I can get them for cheaper. I don't know what size of bearing to get for the rods and main. The car had 87,000 with stock internals and ran perfect, just wanted it to be stronger. What do I look at when looking for wear on the crank journals, just scoring? WHAT SIZE BEARINGS DO I NEED? The stuff didn't "look" to be worn hardley at all, this is my first rebuild, so I'm new to things this time around though. Any help and advice on what to do from here would be greatfully appreciated. I'm planning to have the machine shop here balance everything and assemble it for me, other than that, I'm doing the rest. Anything I'm missing here? Thanks for all the help so far guys. ~Jeffo Hey, have you seen my new tail lights? Yeah, cool huh, get used to looking at them.

As far as the bearings, its always best to get a micrometer and measure the journals for their current size. A chiltons should have the specs for it. When doing new bearings, you should always have the crank journals polished, which basically puts a new finish on the bearing journals. Its not much for a machine shop to do it. The only time when the journals may have to be ground down and use oversize bearings, is if its really scored, like from a spun bearing, or if the journals have a lot of scratches or gouges in them. From what you are saying, thats not the case, so all it should need is a polish.

Other than that, seems like your all set. Dont forget the little things either, like RTV and anerobic sealant if you need it, oil, coolant, spark plugs, wires, and any special tools like a good torque wrench, and dont forget all the necessary torque specs for all the bolts, esp head bolts and cam bearing cap bolts.

Sounds good, thanks for helping me out man, also, how can I tell if the input shaft to tranny seal is still good, I don't want to ruin my new clutch. It's kinda dirty in there, should I clean it out?? Thanks. Oh yeah, do you have a part number or brand of the rtv and the anerobic sealant for the oil pump to block seal, I can't seem to find it at Napa, I think the guy's retarded because he doesn't know what anerobic is or what I'm talking about. I live in a small town, so that's the only place to get something like that. Thanks so much for the help.
~Jeffo


Hey, have you seen my new tail lights? Yeah, cool huh, get used to looking at them.

Originally posted by powellds
Sounds good, thanks for helping me out man, also, how can I tell if the input shaft to tranny seal is still good, I don't want to ruin my new clutch. It's kinda dirty in there, should I clean it out?? Thanks. Oh yeah, do you have a part number or brand of the rtv and the anerobic sealant for the oil pump to block seal, I can't seem to find it at Napa, I think the guy's retarded because he doesn't know what anerobic is or what I'm talking about. I live in a small town, so that's the only place to get something like that. Thanks so much for the help. ~Jeffo Hey, have you seen my new tail lights? Yeah, cool huh, get used to looking at them.

The trans input shaft seal is one of those things that sort of sucks..You really have to take the bellhousing off of the trans in order to change it, but that really isn't that hard anyway. Some guys use a hammer or pry the seal out, and then hammer it back in, but when i did mine, i took my bellhousing to a trans shop, and they pressed it in for me in notime. Charged me 20 bucks, and saved me from damaging my seal, and prob a lot of frustration...If your trans has higher milage on it, then it's always a good idea to replace it, esp if its a manual trans..dont want to get fluid on your clutch..

As for the RTV, I use permatex Black RTV, and for the Anerobic sealant, well, its called just that. I know permatex makes it, its usally a green jelly type color. You can also get it from a Dodge dealer, comes in a black and pink tube, and is a red jelly substance. You MUST use this on your oil pump-to-block connection, and also at a few other places, like the end cam bearing caps.

Gee thanks for all the help, a few more questions and I'm out. Is there a place to get the too that actually works to get the Timing sprocket off? I used my Underdrive pulley puller and the bolts heads are too small to fit in the holes that connect to the puller itself. Also, is there anything other than the gasket that goes on the water pump?? Thanks a bunch and that's all I can think of after looking at everything.
~Jeffo


Hey, have you seen my new tail lights? Yeah, cool huh, get used to looking at them.

Not for nothin' but do you guys not use plastigauge on your rebuilds? It has been a while since I did rebuilds but for an engine like this I would at least plastigauge the crank and the rod bearings. I would hate to put it together without knowing that the tolerances are good. I know that everything is new and all but who hasn't put a defective part on their car? Just a thought.
MB

What's plastigauge?? Do I need to worry about that?? Can someone answer the questions in my last post too?? Thanks.
~Jeffo


Hey, have you seen my new tail lights? Yeah, cool huh, get used to looking at them.

Originally posted by powellds
What's plastigauge?? Do I need to worry about that?? Can someone answer the questions in my last post too?? Thanks. ~Jeffo Hey, have you seen my new tail lights? Yeah, cool huh, get used to looking at them.

Plastigauge is a thread like substance that you lay across your journals and then tighten down your rod cap or main bearing cap (with the bearings in them) to specs. Then you undo the bolts and the "thread" will have squashed down onto the journal. You then do a measurement of the squashed piece to see if the clearances are in tolerances. To be honest, we did not do this with our new engines because it was basic assemble line shit that put together new parts. This is normally done on used engines where you want to see if the journals (or bearings) are worn beyond specs. But when we did our hypo engines we would always check rod and crank journals because even though we were using new parts - or even resurfaced parts - you never know about their tolerances. No need to get worried Jeffo, I was more curious than anything to see if anyone still did that.
MB