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Broken Main Bearing Cap

kaw550

Bronco Guru
Joined
Jul 4, 2007
Messages
1,135
I am in the process of changing the main bearings. I found that the second cap is broken in half.

Are they matched to the engine or crank? Summit sells a kit but it is $250. Nothing on the Napa site.


ANyone know where I can get one? Do I need to get a used one?
 

Broncobowsher

Total hack
Joined
Jun 4, 2002
Messages
35,241
I did the exact same thing back in '92.
Caps are matched to the block.
The short answer, you need a new block. Keep the cap as a suvinour of the old engine.

I was taking an engines class at a local community college back in Kansas. I drove it in. Just the typical signs of an older engine, used a bit of oil, little down on power. The whole calss saw me drive it in, no bad noises or anything else. We were all surprised when cap #2 was broken and had been for some time from the looks of the bearing wear. "never would have believed it ran as good as it did if I hadn't seen it myself" was one of the quotes I remember. I spent weeks searching a fix (this was before internet). Machine shop advise, searching everything I could. The aftermarket caps need line boring on top of just the fitting of the aftermarket caps. It just isn't worth it. I even found a cap in a junkyard, but fitting it to the block it was too far off to be machined out. The block is cast, machined for the caps with very loose tolerances. Doesn't matter since the factory will bore the crank bearings where they need to be. This puts the bearing saddle in completely random places on all the different main caps. Just like rods have matched caps to the rods, the main bearing cap has to be exactly right. The only realistic fix for my basic rebuild was find a different engine. The costs of saving what I had were all way overpriced for race parts that are a waste on a stock engine. And the bearing caps are not even the weak point in the 302 block, so you are not even addressing the weakest link.
 

Bronco73

Bronco Guru
Joined
May 29, 2003
Messages
2,989
Loc.
Cape Coral, FL
Time to pull the engine and it may be easier to just get another engine unless this one was just rebuilt or something. If so, it will have to be torn down and line bored as vintage bronco mentioned. So add the machine shop cost plus your tear down and rebuild time/costs and see which is the cheaper route.
 
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kaw550

kaw550

Bronco Guru
Joined
Jul 4, 2007
Messages
1,135
Oh man.
The engine is out. I have it all cleaned and was in the processes of installing the new bearings.
 

wildbill

Old Bronco Guy
Joined
Jun 29, 2001
Messages
6,885
:cool::cool::cool: Since it will need a line bor I would look for a mexican block and use the caps from it. They are better and like the caps on the 289/271HP good luck and have fun.:D:D:D Bill :p%):eek:
 

tasker

Contributor
all knowing of nothing
Joined
Jun 2, 2006
Messages
20,966
Loc.
NH
have two roller block 302 cores...yours if you want them Travis....
 
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kaw550

kaw550

Bronco Guru
Joined
Jul 4, 2007
Messages
1,135
Thanks Randy. I was just going to send you a message :).
 

Broncobowsher

Total hack
Joined
Jun 4, 2002
Messages
35,241
:cool::cool::cool: Since it will need a line bor I would look for a mexican block and use the caps from it. They are better and like the caps on the 289/271HP good luck and have fun.:D:D:D Bill :p%):eek:

Won't work unless you take the block as well. Caps between different engines are NOT interchangable. As stated above, I have personally delt with this exact problem in the past. The only economical fix is to replace the block.
 
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