The 352 in my truck is rattling and if I pull the plug wire off the no 3 cylinder it makes like a knock coming from the lower end. The rattling sounds like a lifter and at idle it runs great but if you give it a little gas it starts to rattle. What could this be? Rod bearing starting to go? Thanks Eric

 

I would have to say the rod bearings is a good guess. But while you are there you might as well do both the rod and main bearings.

 

I would of thought the bearing would do it more at idle because less oil is flowing through it. Would I have to get the crank turned I don't have much money to do this with. It has the standard bearing in it still would I go to an oversize bearings? Thanks Eric

 

Eric kinda sounds to me like the FE bad wrist pin. Those motors can run for years while doing that. One of my engines has this problem but runs like a top otherwise.

John
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John I thought of that but I decided to pull the pan and the rod bearing for #3 is bad it overlaped it was like only half a bearing was in there. The crank don't look scratched or anything but isn't shiny. Does it have to be resurfaced? Thanks Eric

 

What is it about cylinder #3? I had trouble in my 390 w/ #3. Bad compression, oil fouled and bad leakdown from blowby. Well I have the engine on stand and took the oil pan off. In the oil pan was a broken piston skirt, and #3 piston is where it came from.

BBT

 

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Eric:

The crank doesn't *necessarily* need to be resurfaced, but there is a good chance that it is out of round. If you can read a micrometer or have a friend that takes any trade courses in machining, take some readings from the journal before doing anything. I have seen that discoloration on cranks before. As long as it is not blueish from overheating, but rather greyish-black, it should polish up by hand. Use a very fine emory cloth or crocus paper. Any speed shop should have it on hand. One consideration to bring to your attention is that the other bearings are probably all on their way out. You can change the bearings all out while the engine is in the truck, but it isn't what I'd consider fun.
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I got a standard bearing and green plastigauge. The plastiguage won't mesure the one that was knocking. I guess rebuild time. Eric

 

Has anyone used a rebuild kit from PAW? I was thinking about using the rebuild kit they have. I decided since I have to pull the crank and have it machined I am going to rebuild it as soon as I save enough money. I am going to get the block hot tanked, magnafluxed and have them check the cylinders, have new cam bearings pressed in and probably have it align honed. Hopefully I can reuse the pistons an rods if I can I will have new pins put in. If there is anything I missed please let me know. I will let you know how it goes when I am done. Thanks Eric

 

If the 352 has press fit pins for the pistons, you usually can't remove them with out causing some damage to the pistons. When
they are installed new, the rod end is heated and the pins are pushed in by hand. If the machine shop checks the cylinder bores they are going to want to have them bored anyway, so you will probably have to buy new pistons.

 

Don't do it. I bought my kit from PAW and the rods were not sized properly, they plastigauged fine, but the sides were wrong. It knocked from the start and dammaged my 428 crank. The results were $1,000 of damage and after spending $3500 with PAW, I was told I would have to ship the whole thing to them for inspection. With the cost of shipping an engine to them and then having to pay to ship it back and having them get very defensive on the phone, I decided to have a pro speed shop fix the engine. They refused to take the work of a machine shop here.

Mail order is tough to deal with and PAW has a very bad rep for their machined parts. The standard brand name over the counter parts, intakes, cams, oil pans... are fine, but the machined parts are bad.

I'd ask for prices from the shop that will do the machining of the block. I opted to have a shop build the short block because I got their name on it and they stand behind it. I couldn't find anyone that would stand behind something that I assembled, and $250~300 for assembly is not a bad deal when you consider the cost of a simple mistake.
When I bought the PAW rebuild kit it was supposed to have properly sized rods, the machine shop said that a normal at-home person would not have to check for out of round rods, and that was the problem.

By the way, this would be a good time to consider a new cam, Crower and Crane offers some excellent FE cam and the cost is about 75~125

 

Since I don't have much money right now I am thinking about having the crank machined and installing new rod and main bearings for now until I can save enough for a good rebuild rather than do a half as*ed rebuild. Eric

 

Today I tore down the engine and the top compresson ring on four pistons were broke in half. The cam had chunks missing out of the lobes and on one part where it rides on the bearings. I am going to get the block hot tanked and have new cam bearings installed in about two weeks. Just letting you know how it is going. Eric