You won't know for sure until you take it a part but I seriously doubt bearing only will fix it. If your crank end play is a lot your crank & block may be trashed.

When I drop the oil pan will I need to take off anything else for clearance?

I've replaced rod bearings this way in a pinch before, but never a main or thrust bearing. And they were not means of transportation, so no big deal if it didn't work. The problem I see here with it being a 7 bolt, is the mains are all one piece girdled together.

On GSTs the only thing in the way of dropping the pan is the exhaust if I'm not mistaken.

I'm going to drop the oil pan this weekend and see what condition everything is in. You could elaborate further on the mains being girdled together? On the engines I've worked on you could remove the endcap and slip the top bearing out using a small screw driver

He means all the bearing caps are connected together. See the crank removal page I atteched.

Grabbed this from Google.

Sure.

Check your thrust after piecing it back together. (pry bar dial indicator method works fine)

Whatever caused this in the first play may eat the new ones too.

Damn so the crank is going to want to drop down when I remove the girdle. Will the transmission bring bolted up be enough to hold everything in place to keep the seals from being damaged? I've only deal with engines that had individual end caps

I would not hang the crank off the end of the tranny input shaft. Drop the pan so you can see the thrust bearing & be able better to determine what your next step will be.

Gribble said:

Damn so the crank is going to want to drop down when I remove the girdle. Will the transmission bring bolted up be enough to hold everything in place to keep the seals from being damaged? I've only deal with engines that had individual end caps

Click to expand...

That's what I'm thinking it'll try to do... Might damage front and rear main seals.

Pulling the girdle with the engine in the car won't damage anything.

If you have the 1piece main/thrust you can roll new main/thrust bearings in with engine still in the car. It's a complete PITA but is do-able. You are going to need a hard plastic of some sort to push out the main bearing. Something hard enough to push, still some flexibility and not metal which could damage the crank.

Worth a shot. I'd start looking for a good replacement engine though so that you can swap it in when this bandaid wears off.

Ok I got it tore apart today and the thrust bearing was worn down to about 1/4 of the original size on the flange closest to the trans. The crank also has some ridges worn into it on the corresponding side. What do you guys recommend on a BANDAID fix? Should I buy replacement bearings the oem size, order a oversized set and see if the crank is worn enough that they will fit , or are things to the point that it doesn't matter what I do because the crank is going to eat up new bearings by the time I get down the driveway?

If the crank is chewed up it doesn't matter, you need a new crank.

Yeah there is not really a bandaid fix for that...

can you guys verify some info for me? Undersized bearings are smaller around the round part that wraps around the crank and since only the part on my crank that is worn is were it touches the thrust bearing saddle I cannot use these unless I get the entire crank machined correct? At this point I want to put in a new set of bearings just so I can move the car around the yard until I source a new motor.

There are no non standard thrust bearings. All of the bearings for an undersized crank only change for diameter of the journal, not thickness of the thrust surface.

When the crank is turned the corresponding bearings will be thicker to make up for the amount ground down. If you tried to put a bearing in for a crank that hasn't been machined there is a real likelihood it's not going to spin once the caps are torqued. You could try oem bearings with the understanding it might make it to the end of the driveway, street, or Christmas. I wouldn't hold my breath for Christmas though.

Provided the rod bearings are good, and with more work than it is worth, a crank kit would be the band aid.

I got my new bearings in today but to no ones surprise it didn't work. I can now get the car into gear with the engine running but I am still having clutch disengagement issues. Do you think it's worth a last ditch effort to pull the trans and inspect the clutch?

I think you're waste your time & money. I think your crank walked, got gouged, & needs a new crank. Inspect the mating thrust face on the block journal & if this face is gouged you will need a replacement block as well.

I figured as much but to me it was worth the $50 to try a new set of bearings. The only reason I asked is because I figured I would have took out my crank sensor before I would wear out my crank enough to cause my clutch not to disengage. Thank you all for your help this has been a learning experience