Hey everyone...

I need main berring/s for my 350 and possibly a crank shaft, but i don't know anything about picking the parts out.....

what i know..

I have a crate 350 that was chosen to go into my 82 Trans Am. it was new as of 4 years ago. I honestly don't know alot about it, as it was chosen before I learned much about engines. my wife's dad is going to help me replace the main engine berring/s and the crank but i would like to get them before tearing apart the engine if i can because my time with him is limited.

serial number? don't know it... would that help pick out a crank and berrings? where can i find the number on the engine?

any information someone could give me would be helpfull

Thanks
Pete

 

long as the engine was made after 68 the mains and rods would be the same reguardless of year, or even engine size, 400 SBC excluded. since you're buying a crank it may come with bearings to fit, but it should be standard size and not reground. reground would most likely be cheaper, and used and remachined. new naturally would be new and unused and to new factory spec. either way when you buy the crank the parts people ought to be able to match a set of bearings to it. you may also want to consider rod bearings and a new oil pump while you're doing it.

 

Dude, thats exactly what i wanted to hear! any information on how difficult such a task would be? i've replaced a head gasket and transmission, but never gotten this deep into the engine... as i said, i will have help, but i may look elsewhere if my wife's dad can't help me this year oh.... to drive a v8 again....

Pete

 

I'll ask a really dumb question - why?

Replacing a crank & bearings on a 4-year-old engine isn't making any sense to me. Have they been verified to be damaged? If so, what's saying the rest of the engine is okay?

Is the engine out of the car? If not, that is the easiest way to replace a crank. It could be done in the car, if it has a 2-piece rear main seal.

Hmmm, that brings up another issue. 4 years ago, you could get a crate engine that had either a 1-piece rear main seal, or a 2-piece rear main seal. The bearings are the same, but the cranks are different. The '82 had 2-piece when it was new, but that doesn't say anything about the 4-year-old crate engine.

 

Some GM crate engine had a service bulliten out for bearing wear and oil pump failures There should be a nice big fat number stamped on your crank order the new one using that number you cant go wrong. Depending on how bad the crank really is it might be a whole lot cheaper just to have it turned but then you never know.