ea522

i bought a 89' c1500 with no motor.
i bought a 350tbi out of a 1990 gmc rally van from junk yard to swap in.
not mechanically inclined, so this is a learning project.
i do not know how long the van had been sitting there but it did look pretty bad from outside, the interior and engine looked good.
bought it cheap.

so i took it home and pulled off the oil pan, and all but one of the bearings/rod had oil on them. the bearing without oil was the one closest to the flywheel. i have heard that this is normal, when a vehicle sits for a long time. what can i do to fix this? i have already been told to check for scoring/signs of a spun bearing. i have tried to move the crankshaft from the pulley end with a socket and wrench, and no luck. could it be the piston rings that have rusted to cylinder walls? the bearing and rod are completely w/o oil. what do i do? its on an engine stand right now.
any help is appreciated someone just please get me going in the right direction! thanks

kevinkpk

Drop the main bearing caps first. 350 has had a number 8 bearing problem since day one. If it is locked up, you will also need to drop the connecting rods, take out the crank. Inspect or rather have a machine shop (in your case) mic the journals on the main, and rod journals. It will go from there. Can you move each rod within the cylinder? that will tell if the top ends condition should add remove the timming chain.

Rock Crusher

Sounds like rod ran hot. I would pull just that rods cap. push it up in the cylinder. inspect and mic the crank. if bearing didnt spin rod is prob ok. Replace just that bearing. You can test the bottom end with the pan off by feeling for play or by taking old distributor and grinding off cam the gear spin the distributor from top shaft with a good drill. check the pressure with a gauge, watch for rods or mains that leak more than the others do. A high leakage rate at the bearing indicates excessive clearance no flow indicates a spun bearing. Usually I have found if one bearing is bad theyre all on there way out.

T.Neff

Tear it down keeping the rod bearings in the position it came out of the engine and doing it right the first time,take that to your trusted engine machine shop to have then check the sizes,mag the block.I suggest you don't "try" to do some patch work/do-over repairs.

ea522

so if i find no signs of problems on the bearings, what should i do? remove spark plugs, squirt oil into the holes, wiggle crank, put pan back on , put oil into motor and let sit for a day or two? or how would i go about this. thanks for the guys that replied.

kevinkpk

Ok, you might have a collapsed lifter, I'd think if no problems with the bearings or journal. Need to know exactly where the noise is, you thought around the flywheel, sure it's not on the top?

ea522

oh no, never heard a noise. i have never started it, i bought from a junkyard out of the van. it was owned by the univ. of washington and it only had 93k miles on it so i figured it was taken care of it being a vehicle used in police acadamy training. the reason im on here is bc the rod and cap closest to the fllywheel have no oil on them, while the others do have oil on them. and idk whats wrong with it, if the motor is garbage or just a normal occurance with a motor that sits for a while. so if i find the bearings and journals to be without any damage or suspicious looking marks, would oiling it up and wiggling crank work ?

T.Neff

How would feel if you did in fact tear it down,have a machine shop tell you they could hone the cylinders,tell you everything else was in spec,give you a new set of rings and bearings so now you have basically a rebuilt short block engine for like under $300.One that you could drive another 200,000 miles.Hummmmm.Fresh valve job for like another $150 to $175.