I just bought a '98 with a hole in the block and the top half of the rod sitting on the outside of the motor leaning against the bellhousing - AND IT STILL DROVE DOWN THE ROAD (at about 45 mph), amazing... Yes, it knocked a lot, but hey, still amazing 
I found a donor block and had the crank mic'ed, but the shop said it's half a thousandth sloppier than the spec on one of the main journals, will this be enough to cause low oil pressure? Here's where I get a little fuzzy: he said there's usually more than that for tolerance in the new stock dimension main bearings I'm getting anyway, so I'd have to plasti-guage it to really know what's happening, so how do I use the plasti-guage correctly?
Also, when I spun the donor block upside down on the stand, the lifters mostly fell in heaps on the shop floor before I could keep track of which lifter came out of what hole, will I run into tolerance problems if I just plunk them back into random holes, or how should I handle that.
The timing chain looked amazing, like new, though the motor supposedly had 150K on it, but again, I see almost no sign of wear, should I replace it?
After I get it working, I'll send pix of the old block, can't believe the think drove down the road
I found a donor block and had the crank mic'ed, but the shop said it's half a thousandth sloppier than the spec on one of the main journals, will this be enough to cause low oil pressure? Here's where I get a little fuzzy: he said there's usually more than that for tolerance in the new stock dimension main bearings I'm getting anyway, so I'd have to plasti-guage it to really know what's happening, so how do I use the plasti-guage correctly?
Also, when I spun the donor block upside down on the stand, the lifters mostly fell in heaps on the shop floor before I could keep track of which lifter came out of what hole, will I run into tolerance problems if I just plunk them back into random holes, or how should I handle that.
The timing chain looked amazing, like new, though the motor supposedly had 150K on it, but again, I see almost no sign of wear, should I replace it?
After I get it working, I'll send pix of the old block, can't believe the think drove down the road
CF Veteran
With plasti-gauge all you do is put a little piece on the crank and torque the cap down to spec, then remove the cap and measure the squashed plasti-gauge. Very simple, but don't spin the crank with the plasti-gauge on there. I would replace the lifters with new ones just to be on the safe side, you may start to wear the lobes off of the cam if you get them on the wrong hole. A new timing chain is just cheap insurance, replace it.
Can I just buy lifters, or do I need a cam too? What signs does the cam chain show if it has significant wear? Does it look stretched, or have other signs? I'll go look for a source for lifters and cam chain, hopefully they're not too pricey, dumping a lot of money in this thing already
CF Veteran
Lobes that are scored and worn are signs of a worn cam. It may be more cost effective to buy a cam kit, that way you get a new cam and new lifters and maybe even a chain set all in one kit.
