5.0 mainbearsing and oil pump replacement!

Was wondering why you are planning this job ? do you have a rod knock or other issues that suggest bad bearings ? first off doing this laying on you back is no easy task. once you drop the pan you will need to rotate the crank to get to each of the rod cap bolts then pull the crank. before even putting in new bearings you will need to verify what size bearings ( what I mean is since you will have wear on both the crank journals and mains you will need a bearing size different from oe size ) you need to use plastiguage to determine the correct rod and main bearing sizes. in all honesty if you suspect a worn bottom end I would just pull the motor and do this on an engine stand. have the motor and all pieces cleaned and check at a machine shop. let them tell you what the wear situation is and what bearings you need and then rebuild the bottom end. you will find this way easier in the end.

Oil pump- unless you plan to add a higher capacity oil pan I would ” not ” add a higher volume oil pump as you run the risk of pumping more oil out of the crank case then is returning and that can lead to a number of problems.

I still feel you would be better off pulling the motor. fact is – prior to dropping the pan after all the disconnecting underneth you will only have a few wires and hoses left topside and the motor will come out ( the thought of raising the motor and holding it up with some blocks of wood between the motor mounts and frame scares me – sounds like a recipe for disaster ) here is another idea you may consider ( especially if this truck is still operational and your daily driver )- pick up a good used 302 and do a complete rebuild over time ( take what ever time you need as funds dictate ) then- when your fresh motor is done- pull the old and drop in the fresh , and keep on truckin.

Quoted From dreamer2355:

It would be a waste of time doing all that work without checking each cylinder by measuring the cylinder bore with a telescoping gage and checking to see if there within specifications. If there not, you would need to have them bored.

I would even invest in some plasti-gage and check the clearances of the main bearings and journals.

All the above is ALOT of work and would be so much easier with the motor out of the vehicle.

With that amount of miles, the engine would need to be checked thoroughly.

You can not make short cuts when doing engine work.

Its your call. And i thought Autozone employee’s only received 20% discount?

It might be cheaper for you to buy a salvage yard motor with less mileage.

^^Hole in one. Good to see you ‘working’ again Tiger Woods of ETCG forums.

What’s the difference between Tiger’s car and Tiger’s golf ball? Tiger can drive a golf ball 300 yards without hitting a tree….

That’s terrible, I know.

I know there were engines with flimsy bottom ends, mostly old junk with three main bearings and they require crankshafts and so on before the rest of engine was ready for overhaul. The Ford 289 has a flimsy crank and small journals but somewhere along the road to growing it into a 302, I think they strengthened the bottom end. At what point, I don’t know.
An engine in need of a crank might very well need an align bore and rebuilt rods.
Have you performed a wet and dry compression test? If you have unsatisfactory compression, it makes no sense to replace the crank and bears alone.
I think the best suggestion was to find another motor. You don’t need one until you’ve run the 302 into the ground.
If you look for a good low miles Ford V8 with more displacement, it will work well in a PU with typical numerically low rear end gears. You don’t want to match a bigger engine to a 4.11 rear end. Do you know what you have for gears now? Maybe you know what RPM your truck does at 65 or 70 mph.
A little 302 is probably fine in a half ton PU if you rarely carry any real weight in it.
When I have looked for used engines, somehow I was never in a hurry and managed to find a few that were underpriced. I even found a Chevy 350 that I sold for $950. The fellow selling it knew it was worth more than the $300 I paid, but he didn’t care.

If you really want to build an engine it’s not about parts replacement it’s about measurements and proper clearance. In order for an engine to work well, perform better, and last a long time you need to take this into consideration. I wish you could see my email sometimes when someone comes to me after they or someone else has done a rebuild and now they have noise, the engine doesn’t start, or it runs poorly, in fact there are a couple on the forum right now and it’s because they ignored this simple fact.

First don’t do it inside the truck, for that amount of work it’s just going to be better to do outside the engine compartment, think about it, is your engine compartment clean? Probably not and if you’re building an engine you need to do it in a clean environment, if not then don’t bother changing the oil because you already filled the engine with dirt. Second if you want to do a rebuild a good machine shop is going to be your best friend, find a good machinist with experience with your engine and LISTEN to what he tells you, these people are the experts here and know what is best to give you a successful rebuild.

That’s my advice, if you take it great.