lots of talk about blown motors
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From: Sag-Nasty, MI
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From: south chicago IL
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From: Sag-Nasty, MI
well the cost varies alot, I mean there are lots of different rod/piston combos that cost varying amounts plus bearings, balance shaft elim. kit, gaskets to bolt everything back up... you have to decide if you want 2.3 or 2.0, or 2.1... if you just send the block in to get a shortblock built it can be 3000 to over 5, but there's people on here who have done it much cheaper on their own.. depends on if you have the patience and ability to do the measurements and assembly yourself.
The money you save over doing it after the engine blows up.. well, there's finding a new shortblock and possibly crank... replacing valves that got mangled when the motor let go, sending the turbo in if it was oil starved when the engine quit, if you're unlucky like some of us, you'll have a hole in the radiator and possibly the transfer case... and possibly if you ran over the blown motor pieces you might need new tires as well.
See... doing it first is a good idea.
The money you save over doing it after the engine blows up.. well, there's finding a new shortblock and possibly crank... replacing valves that got mangled when the motor let go, sending the turbo in if it was oil starved when the engine quit, if you're unlucky like some of us, you'll have a hole in the radiator and possibly the transfer case... and possibly if you ran over the blown motor pieces you might need new tires as well.
See... doing it first is a good idea.
Everyone is saying you will need a new crank as a con, but any engine with a decent amount of miles on it will probably need a new crank anyway no? I would be paranoid not replacing the crank just to have a spun rod bearing in my brand new expensive engine. I know you can regrind/use oversized bearings, but that just sounds like a cheap fix that isn't worth the risk. I will most likely just buy a new OEM crank.
Of course the possibility of having to replace transfercases, oil coolers and blocks should be a good enough reason for those on a tight budget.
Of course the possibility of having to replace transfercases, oil coolers and blocks should be a good enough reason for those on a tight budget.
Last edited by fre; Jan 3, 2010 at 08:29 AM.
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From: Sag-Nasty, MI
Everyone is saying you will need a new crank as a con, but any engine with a decent amount of miles on it will probably need a new crank anyway no? I would be paranoid not replacing the crank just to have a spun rod bearing in my brand new expensive engine. I know you can regrind/use oversized bearings, but that just sounds like a cheap fix that isn't worth the risk. I will most likely just buy a new OEM crank.
Of course the possibility of having to replace transfercases, oil coolers and blocks should be a good enough reason for those on a tight budget.
Of course the possibility of having to replace transfercases, oil coolers and blocks should be a good enough reason for those on a tight budget.
Actually, from what I've learned even the OEM cranks are not always spot on... different sized bearings are used even on factory setups to not have to toss away a crank. What i'm saying is if you go out and decide you feel safer using a brand new crank, get it to the shop and get it measured... get the surfaces matched and go with the right bearing size for what that ends up being. A good machine shop can tell you for sure if the old crank can be safely reused and it has more to do with cracking than if the journals need a little machining.
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I would be curious to know how many people have successfully reused their cranks without issues and how many miles/what kind of power they have been through. Interesting that a brand new crank can still be off... that stinks. Probably still better than my 90k crank, but it might be worth having a machinist take a peek at it.
anyone with answers to this would be very helpful
The factory crank is induction hardened, and AFAIK, undersizing the journals is not recommended. If there are no obvious surface flaws, prep work should probably be limited to micropolishing the journals. If one of the journals is damaged, it's time to look for a replacement.
