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Right, so like most of you heard, the first oil change on Monday came out the drain plugs with most of a main bearing suspended in it, and that's my cue to start preparing the backup plan.
Back this winter I bought an engine from another fellow on Performance-Shop.com. It was original from his '86 Mustang, and the part I could hardly believe is that the car only had 22,000 miles on it. Not only that, but the engine had already had a performance rebuild, probably 10 years ago.
Done by one of the best shops in Edmonton, this engine was treated to a line hone, bore, and deck plate hone. The rods had ARP bolts installed and were resized, and fitted to Manley Ultralite forged pistons and low tension gapless rings. It had about 8 years of street/strip action, running a best of high 11s naturally aspirated. In about '02 he brought the engine back to the machine shop for a refresh, light hone, new rings, and a general checkup, then he added a supercharger and ran in the high 10s.
One night after cruising around a little bit he noticed a coolant leak, which turned out to be a combination of a corroded cylinder head (from running straight water and water wetter for the race track) and lifted head gasket from running too much boost. So he pulled it and proceeded to build a crazy Ford Motorsport R302 block-based monster that just ran a 9.75 at over 140 MPH. This old engine sat around for a while for future consideration, but when he saw that I was looking for an engine, he contacted me about buying it.
Anyway, after draining my oil and doing some clean-up Monday night I pulled it apart, and it looks very nice inside. Not a scratch on the cylinder walls or a scuff on the pistons, all the bearings look very good, most of the crosshatch still plainly visible.
Last night I drained all the rest of the fluids, dropped the exhaust and driveshaft, pulled the rad, intake manifold, and wiring, and pulled the engine. I also got all the accessories removed, as well as the intake manifold. Then I called it a night.
Tonight I should be able to get the rest of the old engine pulled apart, clean the block, crank, heads, etc., and start reassembly. I've got to align the bellhousing with the crankshaft and disassemble the lifters to clean all the bearing junk out of 'em, but I should be able to get much of the shortblock assembled tonight.
Tomorrow I should be able to finish assembly and at the very least drop it in the car. I'd LIKE to get it running tomorrow, but I don't think that's realistic. Friday night I've got a birthday party and Sunday we're having our parents over for Mother's Day, so Saturday might need to be spent cleaning up the house. Even so, I should be able to get it running by the end of the weekend.
A little background: I built this engine using a shop (D&W Custom Engines) that I thought was pretty good, but turns out to have marginal feedback from the group I've been talking to. The engine started out life as a 700,000 km taxi motor that showed almost no wear, and was treated to all the right machining procedures or so I thought. Cut the crank 10/10, gave the rods & mains .002" clearance each, pistons .0025" clearance. Balanced the assembly, line honed, deck plate honed, etc.
However, the first oil change I did on the engine, out came LOTS of metal. I thought, "that's sort of wierd - I'd expect some from the hone pattern breaking off, but this seems a bit excessive". I brought the filter to Ian and we cut it open - large chunks of bearing.
Pulled the engine and found that the main thrust bearing was shot, but all the others looked alright. Also the camshaft gear and oil pump drive gear were almost worn thru. I (maybe mistakenly) assumed that the steel from those gears wiped out the main thrust, so I bought a new cam & gear, installed new main bearings, and ran it.
All was well for the first couple oil changes - much less metal in the oil, but still some. Then I was starting to get confident and revving it up to get a bit better tune, and I noticed REALLY low oil pressure at idle. I brought it home and drained it, and found lots of metal.
Pulled the engine apart again and found #1 and #5 main bearings were DESTROYED. Huh, the last time it was #3, and it was only the thrust that showed any wear. That's when I started looking for another engine. While I was preparing the new engine for the car, I found a FUNDIMENTAL mistake in my old setup - I'd installed the oil pump pickup tube without checking the clearance between it and the pan, and it was WAY too close. I assumed I was starving the pump for oil, and therefore starving the bearings. So I decided to try again.
I had D&W polish the crank and check the block, and I asked them to check the crank straightness. When I got there to pick the stuff up they told me they forgot to check the crank and said it would be easier for me to do it anyway. So I did, and I found it to be bent. I tried straightening it by supporting it in the block by #1 and #5 main bearings and pulling down on #3 with the main cap, but a) I couldn't get the crank perfectly straight, and b) I may have messed up the main cap while pulling down on the crank.
And this is the result. More dead main bearings. An area that 302 Fords DON'T have a problem with, and I've had it three times in a row, possibly assisted by other circumstances, possibly not. F*** it, I'm on to the next engine, so this one can just rust to pieces.
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Oughta keep fresh grease in those puppies for many miles...
Hope to see it run and drive for this weekend then!
