'88 GT Convertible - Croatia, Europe

Good news! Found the problem when scouting flexplate health again and how to drop k-member. I removed serpetine belt and wiggled balancer .....

Bad news! I have crank front to back play, roughly measured a whole 1.3mm or 0.051" (close to 1/16"). To be exact I must get dial gauge.
Now, the HB play is followed by flexplate hence I know crank has a play....
Pushing HB front and back is very, very close to knock sound I hear on idle :-(

According to play, what may I expect down there? Thrust bearing, beaten bearings or machining?
 
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Say a prayer for your crankshaft. I had the same issue and needed a new one. If you are real lucky you just need new main bearings. The thrust bearing is the middle (#3) journal. Pretty easy to measure and check. The rods cannot handle all that side play. Knock knock boom. You can replace the rod and main bearings with the pan off and the crank still in the block but it is a big deal and an expensive job. You will wish you had the engine out by the time you are done.
You can do it
 
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It is a PITA with the engine in the car. Can be done though. It's best to use an engine support bar across the top, remove the front suspension, and drop the k member. I wish you luck on this one man.

If you pull the caps and show some pics of the bearings we'd have a better idea of what happened and what you need to do to fix it.
 
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@manicmechanic007 prayers are on :) :-(
I won't take the engine out, cause I know myself that it will finish with a complete rebuild. (I have perfectionist disease).
We will inspect crank...only god knows if its saveable before we lower the pan. I'm tearing down suspension to drop k-member. With two kids and full time job, I may finish until end of week :-/

@90sickfox thnx. I will post carnage here... just let me get to it :)
We will go to PITA way, having some prayers and hope... But there is a bold chance (as far as I read) that thrust bearing will lead to pulling the engine and rebuild. God let me be wrong on last one and proove 302 toughness...

Anyways... three balancers changes and impact wrench, one wrong HB from Rockauto (vibrations at 1600rpm, driven 50miles) may have caused some toll on bearings...
To all guys with knock-ish problems:
- don't drive with faulty balancer, not even 50miles :-(
- don't assume knock on cold start are lifters, especially if it progresses to warm idle knock also in short time :-(
- don't drive
- finally, drop the pan if You buy a car with suspicious history and sludge in lifter valley (@General karthief suggested that, but I was stupid and had no space in that garage in winter)
- don't drive :-(

Tearing down to get to the pan in process...
Just in case, are there any good sources of reliable rebuilt/remanufactured 302 short/long crates in USA ready to ship overseas?
Somebody once told me that all bad things should be observed from the good side. Therefore, at least I will now finally strip, sandblast and powder coat frot suspension parts....if the engine blew we will drive like Flintstones :)
 
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Snovac,
Great. I am proud of you. We used to have to put the subframes on the floor on Taurus to replace transmissions too. your mustang is a bit harder. I would cheat bad and not pull the subframe all the way out. I know you can get the pan off by jacking the motor up (way up) and block it up with big sockets. You are going to do a bunch of work in there (not just a pan gasket or oil pump). So you will want to separate at the rag joint and let the rack hang there. I used to have to shift those subframes back and forth on the wrecked ones and the big bolts come loose fairly easy. I would try to get the bearings job done by just taking two bolts out of the crossmember and the others all the way loose. That should drop it down far enough
 
@manicmechanic007 too late pal, I am at k-member bolts, only steering rack in the way now. 4x4 and motorcycle straps are ready... :)
Wheel parts to be sandblasted and powder coated...

Anyhow, in my opinion with k member in way, it would be waaaay more harder to check, and (if I get lucky enough to get away with) change all bottom bearings
 

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10pm and k-member is finally down. I was affraid of weight, but I can take it to sandblasting by foot. Ain't that heavy. I drilled two 3.2mm holes at each side of back two bolts to use as a dowel pin when I (hopefully) reassemble.
Instead of hanging it as recommended and hitting it with head, I took steering rack off the car, it was two bolts more .... I will do the same with sway bay (and powder coat) tomorrow as oil will drain...
Oil pan is exposed, but it was late and cold to my pal in garage (rhodesian ridgeback) so we closed the day before draining and lowering pan... Prayers are on.... keep fingers crossed.

I saw some old sludge above starter, but I also have leak somewhere around tranny cooling lines. This car has a leak history (valve covers leaking and loose and PCV out of engine when I bough it).
The question is could the sludge above starter be a rear main seal leak? (I attached pictures)

And a good thing in all this mess...everything I touch is stock on car and I didnt know but I have Koni adjustable front shocks (I assume also at the back as they are also orange Koni)
 

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Ok, late here, again 10pm and the pan is off.
Didn't take caps off, just analyzed battlefield:
-oil pan has a coating flaking off between humps, otherwise pretty clean...
-pickup screen had some 1" silicone (not as much to restrict flow I think)
-oil pump is coated with sludge, normal?
-rods have side to side play (axial front to back of engine), a lot... approx 1mm (didn't measure)
Didn't want to proceed without mechanic present. I may not see obvious fault...

To me, a bit dirty but it looks good in general apart from rods side to side play.
Bearings to be checked...
Pictures attached if You see something...
 

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Hard to tell from pics. The oil seems to have a gray metallic color. You'd have to pull the bearing caps to really see what's going on. Bearing surface condition will tell the story. When putting bearing caps back on use assembly lube on bearing surface, keep them in same position, and torque to spec.
 
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Hi. I didnt pull the caps cause this week I'm on business trip.

But I lurked into engine once more. Could not take a picture due to the angle, but at the bottom of piston (skirt) there are some fine scratches, wouldn't call it scoring... Position is exactly the middle of the longest side of skirt, mostly visible at the bottom of skirt.
What may have caused this?
Maybe I may have metal in oil?
I have had an oil starvation since knock?
Or maybe PO overheated engine at some point?
Or a simple wear for ~100k miles?

Pulling the engine.... you see on pictures of my sway bay what I mean when avoiding it: It was stripped to bare metal and then painted in Koni orange leftovers.....
That is why I am affraid to pull the engine, it will be a total rebuild...
 

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You passed the exam
What do the bores look like
What do the valve seats look like
You got a bore scope?
You should check out the procedure for pulling the coil springs out of a 78 Jaguar XJ
Thnx. I can't check (borescopecam) valves and cylinders from above properly due to engine support beam.
I have attached pictures of bottom piston skirts, cylinder bore bottom end and cam lobes in distance...
Is this scuffing on skirts and cylinder walls "normal" wear for 90k engine?
 

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Okay #1 and #5 (first journal) upper OEM Ford 1988 bearings are shot. Copper showing up... crank looks okay, a bit polish only needed...

Can I get by by puttin in new std bearings?
Hard to tell, but could this really be a knock source?
 

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The crank can be worn without showing on the surface. You'd have to measure it horizontal and vertical. You don't want an egg shaped crank journal. That engine looks like it's due for rebuild. The piston skirts and cylinder wear are what I'd expect from 90k mile car. At this point the skirts need to be measured and cylinder bore checked.

The short answer to your question is....you could try standard bearings. New bearings would be better than what's in there now. The engine was on its way out.

The knock could be a wrist pin or the thrust bearing. Hard to tell without actually being there to hear the noise. The crank could have easily been knocking from the space from the worn bearings too.

If I were me I'd pull the engine and rebuild it. However, you would loose nothing but the cost of bearings replacing them and putting it back together. It's easier to take time to have an engine built when the current car starts, runs, and drives. You know what you have now and could get some time to get the money and parts together while still driving occasionally.

In reality you could but the car back together with just the new bearings and your knock could be gone. Crank pictures look OK but I'd want to measure it to be sure.
 
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@90sickfox thnx.
I have no experience, but bearings which started to show copper as on 1st journal should not hurt crank due to design (hopefully).
If the rest of the journals are like that I may get some road life to save for proper high quality/performance rebuild. This is a weekend car anyhow, but a proper rebuild should be done. It is clear now.

I am just checking with you guys for experience, don't want to throw money/time...
Cam should get better life and less abuse in engine AFAIK? I got new lifters not long ago together with pushrods and rockers....
I will check journals OD as best as I can with micrometer, but rods ID can't be measured in engine. I will also try to measure widths, but it is crowded down there...
The plan is also to polish (grit 1000 and shoestring) journals a bit for smoothness.

Now, according the journals are okay... and all that above and new bearings, oil pump, pickup.... Can I expect some life (5/10/15k miles) until proper rebuild?

Thnx!
 
To be 100% honest...I am affraid to pull it out.
I would prefer "bottom end refresh" method if You allow and "bless" my method as "safe" for block.
Just wait for more pictures and measures...

Knowing myself it will finish like parts in picture, ripped, stripped, coated, renewed... (wheel arch parts still at powder coat service)

Why not? With engine it will take muuuuuuch loooonger time and fox will be far away from road next year I am affraid. When I opt for rebuild, belive me I will strip every single nut and renew it or order new one and one should look like engine from assembly line...
So from my point of view, rebuild needs to be planned in forward with half of the parts ready in garage. I am in Europe, remember. And I don't take compromises when I decide to rip apart complete engine...
 

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