I stand on what I said earlier. If your just checking on a mild street driven engine, and the bearings look good and you're carefull to get things back where they were, you can zip it back up and go.

But you also mentioned installing a blower and other speed parts. Anything that creates more power, creates more pressure in the engine, and that includes the bottom end. Small block Fords are known for having tough bottom ends, but as long as you have it down and apart, hell...why not make it better?

Other then poor oiling (probably the number one bearing killer), what kills bearings most is irregularities in the crank journals such as out of round and taper. You should take a good micrometer and check each journal across the face at both sides and in the middle, as well as several places around the journal. I check my journals at every 90 degrees, and as mentioned across the face at three places. Check the main journals too, particulary the block and main cap surfaces where the thrust bearings ride.

Any Motor's Manual covering your engine will give allowable specs. If the bearings were worn and the crank doesn't check out, any good auto machine shop can dress the crank out for you, and they will advise on what bearings to use after they finish the work (advise them that you plan to make power mods).

If you need to replace the bearings, don't skimp on quality. Clevite tri-metal are good, but there are other fine brands out there too. With bearings, you pretty much get what you pay for, so again, don't skimp.

I don't think (but don't know) if your engine uses torque to yeald rod bolts, but if it does, the Arp website has a good page on tightening them. If they arn't used, use good rod and main bolts. A lot of guys prefer to use studs for the main caps, and this may be a good idea depending on the blower type you choose and the boost level. I prefer Arp over any Ford, but I suppose they are good too. If you change rod bolts, have the big end of the rods resized. The pressure involved in pressing in and out rod bolts may not seem like much, but it can tweak the big end enough to cause bearing problems.

Use Plasti-gauge when reassembling. I like to use it in at least two places on the journal (one place at a time). By the way, simply using Plasti-Gauge should tell you that it's okay to re-torque bearings. If it wasn't, Plasti-Gauge would be rather useless wouldn't it?!

All this said, if your just going to use the engine "stock" as a daily driver, with maybe a run now and then at the strip, and the bearings look good (really good!) then zip it up and go!!

 

Rage,
What are you doing over here? Shouldn't you be over on the '48-'60 forum where you belong? LOL...
Daryl
(wherever ya go.... there ya are!)

 

Daryl,

Yeah, well, don't tell anybody you saw me here! I like to sneak out and cause trouble over here once in awhile, too.

 

I don't know a dang thing about whether or not you should replace the bearings.