I will be installing a superram, afr heads, lt4 hotcam, and a torque converter soon. Since I am doing the torque converter I plan on pulling the motor to put it all together. My delima is that some of my trusted friends think I should do rings and bearings while I have it out. My car is a 88 GTA with 78k one it. It has no problems other than valve guides (smoke on start up) and holds great oil pressure. I need some opinions on if I should do it or not. I do not feel confortable doing this so I would like to not do it. I figure if I put it back together then spin a bearing I could alway pull it back out and build a stroker or get a zz4 short block.

Opinions

 

Unless you're going to have the block and crank machined, so the new rings and bearings will be on spec surfaces, not going to accomplish much.

 

You're facing a couple of different thiungs here...

First off, no need to pull the engine to replace the TC..pull the tranny...much less hassle.

If for some odd reason you decide to pull the engine, then by all means, may as well pull the pan and check the bearings, maybe you need new ones, maybe not. Rings????????? Damn, may as well send the block to the shop

Bottom line is there really is no reason to pull the engine for the work you want to do (intake, cam and TC). Only pull an engine when you need to go through it.