Im rebuilding a 302. I really want to avoid having to machining the crankshaft if possible. What are acceptable measurements of the rod and main journals. How much is too low?
how many miles are on the engine? has it been rebuilt before? why is it being rebuilt?
personally the only way I'd NOT touch the crank is if it was rebuilt within ~10k miles, never had any oiling issues and the reason why i was rebuilding it was to put in different pistons/rods. Even then I'd be damn well sure that everything was checked with a micro.
aka, just get the crank re-ground. Its cheap insurance vs having to teardown the motor at a later date because you didn't do it now.
Yea I agree. Just have it reground. The machine shop I used charged me $60 to check and polish mine. They took .010 off so I just got the over(under?)sized bearings. Installing the bearings for the Main and Rods is simple and requires no tools. Cheap insurance against future problems IMO.