Putting in cams with scarred bearings- A lost cause?

[PDHSB]

Hello all, I recently bought my cams and I'm taking apart the top end. When removing the cams I realized there's horrible scarring on the bearings and they are basically unusable. Unfortunately looks like the person who had the car before me didn't take very good care of it and it went without lubrication for who knows how long.

I was looking into a set of Trick Flow heads, but will I be jeapordizing my investment in them if I drop it into this engine that probably has a worn bottom end? I hope to swap these to a 5.4 one day, and it would suck if the wear on the crank assembly has negative affects on the $2k top end.

Will the health of the heads depend on how well i take care of it from this point, or is it a lost cause?

 

[Potomus Pete]

Drain your oil and check your filter and bottom of the drain pan. Then you will see whats up. Pull some plugs also to check for oil. All may not be lost

 

[PDHSB]

Drain your oil and check your filter and bottom of the drain pan. Then you will see whats up.

There was metal in the oil when I drained it. Not huge chunks but it had that caramel coating on top if you stirred it. I'm of course going to clean out the oil pan, hopefully without having to take it out of the engine bay. How will I know if it's beyond saving?

 

[Potomus Pete]

Does it idle smoothly. As in perfect balance.

 

[Potomus Pete]

I would do an oil change with fresh no name conventional oil. Drive it for a few days, and check for metal again. Didnt you pull valve covers for the cam?? Hows the look

 

[PDHSB]

Does it idle smoothly. As in perfect balance.

When I had it running, yeah, you wouldn't be able to tell something was wrong with it.

 

[PDHSB]

I would do an oil change with fresh no name conventional oil. Drive it for a few days, and check for metal again. Didnt you pull valve covers for the cam?? Hows the look

Yeah, I did. I've changed the oil 2 times since I got it. I've put maybe 60 miles on it total, and in that time I didn't notice anything sounding off.

 

[Potomus Pete]

If its smooth at the crank thats real good. When I got my old car I changed the oil three times in a couple months on the hunt for shavings.

 

[PDHSB]

If its smooth at the crank thats real good. When I got my old car I changed the oil three times in a couple months on the hunt for shavings.

OK, thanks. I'm going to clean everything out as well as possible and hope I don't have any lubrication or wear issues.

 

[NXcoupe]

How about posting some pics of these 'bearings' (caps and saddles)

I'd like to see how bad these are. Tge engine was running, so how bad are they?

 

[PDHSB]

How about posting some pics of these 'bearings' (caps and saddles)

I'd like to see how bad these are. Tge engine was running, so how bad are they?

 

[NXcoupe]

You consider those scored? Can you get a nice, close up of one in focus? Because what I'm seeing, I'd clean it up and run it.