the crank has to be fully removed

if you know for a fact that the top end is ok and the rings are ok you could pull the tranny and rebuild it from the bottom to save the headache of removing the maze of hoses that is the intake manifold, but the trade off is it will be awkward to tq things down and you will be in a very tight space

its going to suck one way or another

 

yeah it really is awkward working under the engine when it comes to torquing and having to measure degrees of rotation on the bolts with a dial gauge. I think the engine is going to come out. Thanks for the continued info.

FWIW, I pulled the number one rod cap today and while it showed some increased scuffing compared to the other rod bearings it didn't look too bad, no other colours showing through.

 

For the oil filter, I use a oversize filter on my "S"
Here are some pic's of my Baldwin with a Honda and a Wix filter for the "S"

http://s949.photobucket.com/albums/a...Oil%20Filters/
With a filter this big it will flow a lot of oil before it goes into by-pass.

ROD

 

Are you sure about this?
I mean, it sounds like you're saying the oil comes out of the pump, goes through the engine and then goes through the filter.
But this can't be right as the oil is pressureless when it has done its job, it is basically leaking out of journals, etc.
And it certainly isn't collected anywhere before dropping - under its own weight - back into the pan.

Have you ever tried filtering coolant?
Coolant is typically a bit thicker than water but not as thick as 100C oil and it still takes seconds to pass through a paper coffee filter.

IMO the oil filter is the FIRST thing the oil has to pass after it comes out of the pump.
This makes much more sense.
Force it through the filter under pump pressure.
When the filter is in bypass mode - during high pressure difference due to cold oil or when it is fouled - some or all oil flows through the engine unfiltered.

I have no pictures or other data to back this up but this is how the oil system in an engine works as far as I know.

 

So all of the metal I'm finding seems to be bi-coloured - silver on one side and copper on the other side - I trust that can only be bearing material and there is nothing on the top end that can produce such metal, and nothing in the cylinders ?

 

I seem to remember at one point someone telling me that the one of the layers of material on the rod bearings is lead, but lead is the softest metal out there. so, I don't know....

 

honda bearings are tri-layer If i remeber sintered copper lead on the face and a steel backing... but its bean a while since I did the research on who makes the bearings for honda and what is in them. I just remember I found out the OEM bearings are the way to go on a build to matter what OEM rebuild or full on sleeved block build.

 

Thanks I'll snap a picture of the metal in the pan in case anyone recognizes it.

I pulled the valvecover tonight and the top end is clean, no sign of metal. The cam lobes may have a small amount of rubbing marks on them, I think I had a breakdown of the oiling system but perhaps not a total breakdown. I got the oil pump off today I'll check it out more closely but I doubt it will reveal anything to my untrained eye.

 

You're probably right. Someone poured that garbage in my ears one day and I took it as fact. Looking at the position of the pump and filter it would make sense for it to be first. Along with the obvious pressure differentials you've listed. I guess Mrs. Information and I will be leaving now.

 

I thought I would post a bit of an update. I've been busy sourcing a new block and trying to get the car operational again, I left the old block aside in the meantime. We were able to get the old block opened up this week and there were three main bearings that expired. There was some signs of crank walk but it was the three bearings that dumped all of the metal into the oil pan, the thrust bearings were worn but not dead. At least two cylinders were badly scuffed, surprisingly cylinder four was still mint. We will end up parting out anything that is salvageable.