Can bad lifter(s) cause low oil pressure?

I are a redneck too, but I was more pointing towards what the motor was used for as to why it's in the condition it's in now. I've thrown a motor or two together from spare parts (the last one was one of my best engines it turns out, this is the one I put the crank kit into) and they turned out fine, but I didn't abuse them or stick em into a medium duty truck and try to haul freight cross country up 20 mile long grades either like yours was.

 

Alright, finally have some time to do this. Bearings ordered and on the way. Any final tips to help the install go smoothly? Or am I overthinking things again? It's a pretty simple concept I guess... Just loosen the mains so the crank can drop a few thou, tap the old ones out, roll the new ones in with liberal amounts of oil, right?

Then assemble, pray and hopefully not cuss.

 

Don't get oil on the back of the bearings! Just a little on the bearing surfaces and then prelube the engine before firing up.

 

my chevy truck is doing this right now actually

 

did you mike the rod bore and main bores. the crank may be standard but the rods and block may have been over bored.

 

Did not measure the bores. Guess I will know pretty quick if I got that wrong...

 

Rods and mains are honed to get them back to original size, not oversize. The cap bottoms are ground to undersize them before the bores are honed. You'd never find a bearing for oversized bores. The one thing you do haved to watch out for is align boring the mains moves the crank's centerline closer to the cam, so sometimes you need a shorter undersized timing chain.

 

Ditto on this. They don't make oversize main or rod bearings, so that's not going to be an issue.

 

Still haven't done this, but I hope I'll get a chance to work on it tonight.

Is there any chance of doing this without hurting the rear main seal or is it pretty much a certainty that it's going to be leaking like hell after I open that one up?

 

1-piece or 2-piece rear seal? A 1-piece just needs to be reseated, a 2-piece will need to have some silicon added to the ends.

 

Not sure. It's an '83 casting, so I think that's 1-piece, right?

 

Not sure when the 351 went to a 1 pc rear main seal (if ever) but you'll know it just by looking at the back of the motor, the one piece seal is pretty obvious to spot as it goes in from the rear around the crank.

 

And I suppose there's no way to deal with that without pulling the trans...

 

If it's a 2-piece the lower half of the seal comes of with the main cap. Just put some sillycone on the seal ends and bolt it back together. If it's a 1-piece be careful not to damage it and make sure it's properly seated when you reinstall the main cap.

 

Rear Crankshaft Oil Seal Removal and Installation http://www.1bad6t.com/Maverick/repair/engine_repair_09.html