Yea i know how you feel, had the same thing happen to my other car that i was driving 2 years ago. It was a 1990 oldsmobile toronado. It spun the #1 bearing. Dad had put quite a bit of money into that engine just before it did that, so needless to say he wasnt too happy at all. So we are in the process of dropping a different engine into it. It sucks that its not just an easy fix...

Ok, I am trying to learn some parts here. Please correct me if I am wrong.
Rod -what is in between the cylinder and the crank shaft
Rod Cap - a 'C' shaped peice with holes on each end to connect the Rod to the crank shaft
Crankshaft Bearings - Two thin peices of metal that wraps around the crank shaft, each a half circle.
Journal - the smooth part of the crank shaft where the bearing go around and the rod and rod cap are connected.


Ok , with that out of the way. I went out and pulled the rod cap and found out that the bearings were on one side of the crank, one inside the other. So on one side of the crank there were two parts of the bearing and the other there was none. This is why that rod was loose. The problem is that the jounal is scard up a llittle. It isn't chewed up or anything but it is not smooth. As far a I can read in chilton'* it is suppost to be smooth. Now I know exactly what is wrong with it. The thing is can i have the journal smoothed out while the crank is stille in the car and then just put a thicker bearing on that journal?

If you're going to go thru the fixing of it... There is the 3.8-4.1 stroker kit..... Maybe a little more, but you'll get much more HP.

For a new engine... www.l67swap.com and you could be */Ced....

Otherwise LOTS of L36 cars. so you have a good base to look at.

That sucks dude, hope you get the bearing that did this!!!

The bad news is: No under car fix on this one. Engine comes out, crank comes out.

You may want to measure the diameter of the damaged rod journal before you do anything else. If the damage exceeds .030" in depth, the crank will need to be replaced. If the damage is not too bad, the crankshaft can be reconditioned. Either way, the crank is gonna have to come out of the engine to be turned. And, the engine is gonna have to come out so the block and all the oil passages can be thoroughly cleaned of all the little pieces of bearing material that got circulated with the oil through the engine as that bearing spun on the journal. If you don't clean it meticulously, you will soon have the same problem!

Crankshaft grinding is precision work done in a special machine at engine rebuild shops. I had mine done for about $100. The typical procedure is to turn all the rod journals to the same size, say .020" under. The main bearing journals are checked and turned if needed at the same time. You then buy new bearings in sets for both the mains and the rods as needed for your crank.

Before you do anything else, since the engine has to come out anyway, talk to a good shop about what it will cost you to have the work done, and figure out the cost of your gaskets, bearings, and other stuff. It may be cheaper and easier to buy a used engine and drop it in. If you can rebuild it properly for about the same money, you will have a better engine than used. But good rebuilds aren't cheap.

Hang in there,

Autozone has a crankshaft kit for about $200 that includes the CRANKSHAFT, MATCHED ROD BEARINGS, & MAIN BEARINGS. How does this sound it also has a 3 month warrenty. It seems pretty reasonable to be but I have never been this far into an engine before. The other thing is that autozone offers a couple different types.

6 bolt flange
FORGING #242, 2170

8 bolt flange
FORGING #242, 2170 or FORGING #737, 4737

I think I have the 8 bolt flange but I don't know what the forging numbers are about.

Also will a SC'd Crank fit in the car?

L67'* are a different compression ratio, but I don't know if the crank will fit. L67 cranks are forged, as well.

Would the rod on that cylinder be bent? My manual says something about having a machine shop check the straightness. I will have to pull the head and cylinder to pull the rod off won't I.

I highly doubt that the rod itself is bent (that would take a severe force to bend it!!!)but you may end up having to change it anyway depending on how good of shape it is in (the crank end of it where the bearing sits in as it was banging back and forth on the crank). It didnt sound like you hammered it badly after the bearing spun. Anyway you look at it your engine is coming out. The damage is done and there is bearing material throughout the oil passages and will defintely lead to premature failure of a rebuilt crank job. The price that you got quoted on the crank is great. Sorry, I don't know about the casting numbers though. Any yes, the heads have to come off in order to draw the piston up and out of the engine to change a connecting rod.

Thanks A Bonnie Canuck,

I will start looking around for a cherry picker to get the engine out. Can I hook up something where the oil pickup tup connects and pump some oil though it to clean the passages out. Also I think I found out the differences between the casting numbers.

FORGING #242, 2170 is the NA engine.

FORGING #737, 4737 is the SC engine.

There is only $27 between them and autozone'* computer says the car can use either. So if they will accept my core as the #737 I will get the SC'd crank. I will double check to make sure everything matches up before I get it though.

Yea I saw the L36 4.1L stroker kit today. They want $1899 for it though. Plus they recommend putting a bigger cam shaft in it also to keep the KR down. It puts out quite a bit more HP and I don't think my Transmission could hold up to it.

I am just looking for a solution to get me by for about a year and a half. Then I should be graduated from college and can start looking for a newer SSEi. For now it looks like replaceing the crank is the best solution with my pocket book.