my 87gt has a spun bearing. To get it back on the road while i re build a engine can i, Drop the pan, plasti gauge the crank and slap some bearing in there? Unless the crank is super pitted or scratched i dont see why not.

IF you have a "SPUN" bearing, NO. a spun bearing will have "chewed" the crank AND more than likely the Rod also. Or do you just have a "rod a rappin'"? If the bearing is NOT Spun, you May get away with it for awhile, depends on what the crank Looks like.

I agree with Lou, but technically, if your journal isn't scored (if you can feel it with your fingernail it is definitely too badly scored), and if you plastigauge the new bearing and it measures no greater than 0.003", then you should be OK for a while... certainly long enough to rebuild a new engine. You didn't say whether it was a main or rod bearing that you were replacing, but if it's a rod bearing, then the worst that will happen if the repair doesn't work is that you'll get a knock and lower oil pressure. If run that way, you'll eventually ruin not only that journal but all of them. If it's a main crank bearing, there's a good chance you won't hear anything but your oil pressure will start dropping as the oil takes the path of least resistance through the large clearance on that bearing.

And the way you beat on engines, a iffy fix isn't going to last a week

..I have done this before wages went to heavenly $2.00 an hour ,it use to be more common to do this ,you will know when you look at crank,you clean up the journal with sandpaper, then crocus cloth strips ,,If you have any rapport with a machine shop they may clean up the one journal..Pulling engine is a lot of work to have to pull again.
when you have a bad journal,and run it ,with just sanding ,Add STP oil thickner ,,the thicker oil gives you a cushion,,THIS WORKs,,its old school,, but good tech,,engines wore out faster 40 years ago..
make sure your oil pump is good,,Oil holes are clear

https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum1/HTML/080089.html

Is re-bearing it as good the correct fix or is it somewhat a band-aid fix? After looking at the attached thread, I think any fix has to be a "Heavy Duty" fix or better.

There is a reason your car is "knocking" and it is probably a spun bearing, which could be overlaped or spun to close the oil hole. Overlap is catastrophic. Have the crank checked and then go from there. Really it shouldn't be that exspensive to rebuild stock.


Vinny

Usually knocking is from a spun rod bearing, not a main crank bearing. If it only knocked a little, the crank may be OK. But the rod maybe damaged. I had a spun rod bearing on my 88 duke that didn't damage the crank. I replaced all rod bearings over 30,000 miles ago, without grinding the crank, and it's still running fine with good oil pressure.

I have re-rod bearing'd many a Chevy straight six. I have gone so far as polishing each rod journal with emory cloth while someone cranked the starter. You can get oversized bearings in 0.0001 increments (not sure if you can for the 2.8 but I do not see why not). The last Chevy straight six that I did this to was about 12 years ago and is still chugging along today. As others have said, it depends on the condition of the journal. Even if scratched to the point where you can feel it, if you smooth it out with some fine emory cloth, it will live for awhile - if you baby it maybe for a long time. I say it's worth a try and I say go for it.

Pat

katatak, did you mean .0001 (ten-thousandth) or .001 (thousndth)? In an case, if you can't find .001 oversize rod bearings, aluminum foil (standard, not heavy duty) is .001 thick. Put a strip between the rod and the bearing. Don't laugh, it really works. There's some in my 88 duke, with those 30,000 miles since.

my thread of replacing a bad rod bearing:
https://www.fiero.nl/forum/A...040223-2-042035.html

for me - the answer was yes.
but - you'll never know until you look.

hopefully, your crank wont look like one of my old ones.