Question about putting new bearings in a lower end....

[Jacob]

Ok,I made a thread about a very bad vibe with my 91 Mustang 5.0..Its either a spun bearing or somthing went south in the lower end..Changed ALOT of parts (trans,clutch,flywheel ect...) and nothings changed..Feels like the engine is going to come apart after 3500RPM and its trashed two rear seals,new one almost lasted a day...Im buying a used short block tomorrow and looking it over before buying it..Guy said its in very good shape and still has the cross hatches on the cyl walls..Ive always had cranks turned when the bearings went bad but heres my question...Once I take the caps off and if the bearings are in good shape (not burnt/copper color showing and is crank smooth),can I polish it then put it back together with new bearings??I know people have done this as long as the crank is fine so thought I would ask first...Thanks in adv...

[Jacob]

Another question..
Engine in my car has around 20,000 miles..I did pull the drain plug just to see how the oil was and the magnet had some metal shaving on it..I have a good/HV oil pump so would it be safe to use in the other engine as long as I clean it out good??

[Ponyryd]

Have you checked your balancer? They go bad often.

If you pull the caps on the used engine and the bearings are fine just leave them, new bearings may cause more problems.

[OldbutNew]

What he said ^^^ on the bearings. If they look OK, leave them alone.
Replace your oil pump and wash out the pickup tube with solvent. NOT Brakleen! You want to risk having to do this AGAIN to save $40 on a new oil pump??

Good luck!

[Jacob]

Thanks so much guys..I'll just check the caps and torque them back down to specs as long as all is good...

pondryd,
Its a new/solid SFI balancer so im sure its not that..

OldbutNew,
Nope,don't wanna go through this again..Just flat broke after everything I changed already but like you pretty much said,I DON'T wanna pull this engine a 2nd time..So far looks like i'll get the Summit racing HV pump,full Fel-Pro gasket set then start putting it together when I have time..Only thing im not sure on is the middle gasket for my intake,its a Typhoon upper/lower and I think the Edelbrock is the same..

[TooSlo86]

Did it do it before you put the sfi balancer on? Also, I think I have one of those gaskets. Problem will be remembering to look.

[Jacob]

Did it do it before you put the sfi balancer on? Also, I think I have one of those gaskets. Problem will be remembering to look.

The car came with the new SFI balancer but I did swap it out with a stock 50oz which made no difference so put it back on..Real shame that this engine is pretty much new and trashed but on a good note,the short block I picked up is in awesome shape..Well I haven't taken the caps off yet to check bearings but all the cyls still have the hone marks ,looks like it doesn't even have 30,000 miles on it..Still in the trunk of my car (LOL) so once I get it on the stand,i'll pull caps off and cross fingers...Only paid $125.00 so pretty happy so far ..Yes,if you have the gasket let me know and i'll give ya what you want for it ..Crappy pics but you can see its in good shape..

[OldbutNew]

Looks GREAT for that price!! I've got more than that into a set of bearings.

[Jacob]

Looks GREAT for that price!! I've got more than that into a set of bearings.

Yeah I couldn't pass it up..I did get lucky because I was going to wait until the weekend to pay for it (4 days away) because I couldn't pick it up until Friday but went back Tuesday..The guy told me that someone else that looked at it a few days before me showed up the day after I dropped the money off to put a down payment on it..Been whooped after work so haven't pulled the caps yet but will this weekend..Could do it now but just don't feel like screwing with it..

[TooSlo86]

Jacob, I haven't forgotten about the gasket, just not remembered to dig it out while in the shop.