Thanks Danny I'll make sure to check the flatness of the sump. Sounds like you got to work on some cool projects

The mating surface looks clean to me. I don't know about the others yet.

psykokid,

I got some green plastigage, but I'm not sure where to put it. Gaging the old bearing shell to crank clearance doesn't make sense because then I'm gaging the wear of two parts. Bearing cap to crank is too wide. Also I'm not sure what clearance range is ok for stock replacement and what is for 010 over. What if some need 010 over and some don't?

 

can you get a set of calipers on the journal enough to measure the diameter of the big journal. If someone has a set of new main shells sitting around maybe they could measure them and you can compare what the thickness of your current shells vs new and get and accurate measurement of the clearance. Most accurate way is to measure the crank journal though..

Since you already have the plastigauge toss the worn bearing shell in there and torque it down and see what the clearances are. Cant hurt right? Maybe you'll luck out and it will be in the ball park. The amount of moly coating that is on the bearing shell is usually pretty thin..

 

I can borrow some good calipers tomorrow at work and try to get them in there.

I was exploring replacing the crankshaft too but the cheapest price I could find was 1,945! Correct me if I'm wrong though, I don't see why it wouldn't be possible to remove it from underneath.

 

Your best bet is to have the crank (turned) and get some oversize bearings. It's cheap to have done and offers piece of mind if nothing else. I typically have that done on anything with that many miles regardless of how it looks. If you've already got it torn down may as well do it right.

 

True, don't know why I didn't think of that. It'd be nearly good as new.

 

I'm trying to understand how the crankshaft connects to the transmission so I can remove it. From reading RAVE thought it seems like you remove the bell housing front access plate, and a bell bell housing access hole in the bottom, and unbolt the drive plate/ring gear. Unfortunately I think this leaves the drive plate/ring gear attached to the crankshaft and not the transmission. Right? And that would make it impossible to remove the crankshaft without removing either the engine or transmission. Am I missing something?

 

Nope, sound like you got the idea - one of them has to move. And tranny has that transfer case as well....

 

Damn.

Does anyone know how much the bottom end weighs? I'm thinking of removing it with a hoist, carrying it through my garage door and out the front door. Then taking it to the machine shop for cleaning/inspection/resleeve.

 

Won't be too far off from a crate motor (minus heads) - like 300 pounds. Would advise against taking this thing thru the house. If you pull it, can you and friends roll truck in/out of garage, even if have to push truck with padding between, dolly under anything low?

Don't do this when SWMBO is around.....

 

It could be rolled out assuming I can get it out of park, but I don't think we'd ever get it back in. My driveway is inclined and the Rover is very heavy.

The engine is alloy and with the starter, camshaft, and pistons removed, I wonder if it'd be manageable for two people...