what kind of shape are my main bearings in?

[DarkoStoj]

here are the best pics I could muster

the very top coating of the main bearings has some wear, but the crank looks like smooth glass. I'm just curious what you guys can tell of the life of this motor by looking at the bearings, cause I have no idea what i'm looking at.

 

[DarkoStoj]

I just wanted to make sure the crank was in good enough shape to handle some serious use. The bearings hardly have any wear from what I can see. I don't know anything about main/rod bearings and wanted to make sure that there was nothing wrong since the outermost coating of the bearing was worn through. Here are some better pics.

 

[65ShelbyClone]

Your main bearings look good, IMO. I cant judge the rod bearings, though, because the one that gets the least wear is on the cap. The shell to get the real beating is on the piston side.

 

[Route666]

They look like the bearings have shiny spots to me, indicating being polished by contact. Is that normal looking shininess or big-time wear?

 

[rbohm]

the bearings look very good to me. in fact they are not even into the copper yet. use a good assembly lube when you put that motor back together, and be generous with it, and they will last a long time. by the way the polished spots are just where the bearings had a high spot in them and that area was worn off by the crank, no biggie.

 

[D.Hearne]

Looks good and clean to me also. Looks like its got the later "truck" rods too, not the early ones with the broached bolt faces and oiling bosses. I don't know why you'd want to pull it apart and build something else with it.

 

[DarkoStoj]

the pistons give me 8.6:1 compression with the heads I'm running. I have to pull it apart and swap the pistons to get some more compression.

 

[pabear89]

The bearing look fine from the photo, So run a plastiGuage strip on them and check for oil clearence.
If its within spec's then you can tell how much life is left in them.

PB

 

[Max Power]

Plastigage is a little hard to use in an oily motor, especially in the car. If your oil pressure is fine, you should be OK. The bearing in the picture look fine.

 

[69Mach351]

yup, there is four layers of a bearing the backing is brass. You can tell as you go through them, its pretty obvious. If there is any doubt, could always replace them since they are cheap. Also, as someone else said, use a good assembly lube and lots of it(not under the bearings, just make sure its clean under there)

 

[D.Hearne]

Just stay away from the moly assembly lubes. They tend to clog the oiling holes. I just use good old STP oil treatment.

 

[10secgoal]

Just stay away from the moly assembly lubes. They tend to clog the oiling holes. I just use good old STP oil treatment.

yepper. And you can always re-prime the motor since you've already got it apart.

 

[shotsy]

Looks like a winner to me!!

 

[Bullitt]

just curious, but what are your plans for the motor?

now is the time to put a little money into the bottom end if you're looking to put down a lot of power or RPM. main cap studs and at least ARP rod bolts would seem like a good idea to me.