I was cleaning up engine parts today... and although I kept everything laid out in the order I pulled it, I noticed that there are numbers stamped on the rod caps. BUT , they are NOT in the order they came out.. for instance the one I pulled out of number one had a 3, the one I pulled out of 2 had an 8 etc. The engine has obviously been apart recently, is it safe to assume the put it back together wrong? how do I figured which one should go where?
I'll be installing new rings and bearings, but was planning on re-using the rods and pistons.

 

Chances are the engine isn't balanced enough to worry about rod position, they're still matched to a piston and they're all using the same size bearings. The only mismatch may be piston skirt to bore clearance since you would be moving the piston to a different hole.

Although the rods can be swapped around to the correct order, just make sure they're on the crank in the correct direction. The chamfer goes towards the crank surface. Once installed, check rod clearance with a feeler gauge. All the odd numbered rods will have the chamfer facing forward. The even numbered rods will be facing rearward.

Since you're only doing a basic re-ring rebuild, it shouldn't hurt anything to install them back into the correct holes. They survived in the wrong holes for who knows how long.

 

thanks Steve.
I'm wondering now about something else though.... the rods aren't marked :\ just the caps... so how do I know if the pistons where in the wrong holes or the caps were on the wrong rods.... LOL maybe I should look for another engine that hasn't been messed with yet. I keep getting told that since its bored .60 over that its pretty much junk anyway.

 

Caps marked, rods not and you have them apart. That isn't good but again, since this isn't a high tech rebuild, as long as the caps are installed on the proper direction, it shouldn't make a big deal. You're still taking a gamble.

I doubt anything is out enough to make any difference. Since it's a large overbore daily driver, slap it together and let it run.

I did a cheap rebuild on a 350 back in 1990. New rings, bearings, gaskets. No machine work. Ran the engine for 6 years with no problems before selling the vehicle.

 

I did keep track of which holes I took the pistons off of, and I have the bearing caps organized in the order I took them off. So at least I've got that going for me, LOL

 

Normally if you mix and match rod caps, they should be resized. Mixing up the mains requires a line hone. Since this isn't a performance rebuild, I don't think you'll have any problems.