Was driving along and, tap, Tap, Bam, BAM! Pulled the oil pan off and has a spun rod bearing. This is my daily driver. Since I have had the car the oil light would come on at idle and go out when you take off. This is the first time I have had a bearing/ oil problem. So can I just get the crank turned and put new rod and main bearings in along with a new oil pump, and keep on driving? Or do you think it is likely the cam bearings are going to be in the same sad shape and I should just rebuild the whole thing.

The cylinders look nice and smooth , but a couple of the cam lobes have a little pitting on the edges.

I am observing all of this up from the bottom as the engine is in the car still.

Of course I want to do the quickest thing since it is my back and forth to work car, but I also don't want to be pulling the motor back out later in the middle of winter. The slant has been running excellent, good power, no smoke.

Any advice, I appreciate it.
65 Barracuda
225/auto

Cuda-Lane@att.net

At a minumum, you'll need to replace the rod or get it resized since the spinning bearing has, shall we say, resized it already? The crank might be savable depending on the damage and any prior grinding.

If it were mine, it'd get new bearings (R/M/C), and gaskets everywhere (valve seals also), and maybe a valve job as long as it was apart. Murphy might be hiding in the engine waiting to reveal himself until you get it running again.

good luck,
mark

mldingba@rockwellcollins.com

Patching-up the engine a bit of a "crap-shoot" but Slants are tough and it can be done with success. At a minimum you will need to regrind the crank and resize the connecting rod with the bearing failure then reassemble the bottom-end with new bearings.

Truth is that doing this with the engine still in the car is trouble seeing that the crank must be removed, that means the front of the engine must come apart and the tranny needs to be "backed-away" so the crank can be removed, oh....and the steering and K-Frame is in the way. (What type of vehicle is this in?)

The resize or raplacement of the con rod is a "snag" seeing that the pistion assemble is not designed to be removed from the bottom. You must remove the head or else get real "creative" to get the beat-up con rod situation resolved.

Hope that helps...
DD