So I dropped my oil pan. Pretty sure it has never been off before. 95000 miles. Found the below debris in it:

• remnants of old brittle valve seals. I expected this.
• pieces of the timing chain spocket (not metal, but more like nylon material). I expected this.
• Also, found some sort of odd metal pieces, very thin metal. Anyone know what this may be from???

What is this metal debris from?

 

YIKES, Looks like bearing doesnt it?

 

looks like bearings to me too... guessing you pulled it because the motor was running rough? only positive is, if it is bearing material and you don't want to rebuild it, you should be able to use any 302 block all the way up to 96 or something like that. i see them on market place pretty frequently for around 500 for a no information used short block

 

Motor actually was running pretty smooth and quiet. I didn't expect to find this, but I agree it looks like a bearing. I have only owned the truck for a year and I have put only 800 miles on it. Previously it sat in a barn for about 20 years.
I am not looking to rebuild the motor just yet. I just want to fix the cab mounts first and drive it that way for a few years before I touch the motor. It is just a weekend driver and I do not tow or anything like that.
How bad would it be to drive it with a missing bearing? How hard is it to replace a missing bearing? Looking for some advice....

 

That looks a lot like a cam bearing. It is possible for one of those to seize up and come out and the engine continue to run. But if that happened continuing to run it that way will damage the block. That engine needs to come out unless you have a spare and just want to run it until it grenades..
There is no way that engine will run for a couple of years.

 

What he said!

 

Shake the rod caps back and forth. If there isn't excess play on any of them, look at the cam bearings. Hook up a real manual oil pressure gauge. If it's a cam bearing you will have close to, if not, zero oil pressure at warm idle.

I had a front cam bearing seize and spin out. Zero oil pressure at idle.

I would drop a rod and main bearing to see how the crank looks also.

 

Is it possible for CAM bearing to drop down into the oil pan? When had your CAM bearing spin out, where did you find it? Was it laying in the pan?
I need to sort through the pan and find all the pieces and put together like a puzzle. The metal is super flimsy, very easy to bend,. Are bearings this flimsy?

 

Is it possible for CAM bearing to drop down into the oil pan?
Where else could one go.
The only bearings in there are rod, main and cam. If that was a rod or main, you would know it because it would sound like someone was in there with a jack hammer.
I saw a 350 chevy engine that had worn completely thru the cam bearings and the cam was running against the block. That block went to the scrap yard.

 

My cam bearing was riding on the cam. But, I noticed the dropped oil pressure immediately, and went into the engine. I knew that particular engine I had was prone to spin the front cam bearing around 100k, and mine did.

 

I think no matter what that engine needs to be gone through. I would pull it apart while you do the cab mounts and any other rust repair. You could pick up a running engine and drop it in so you can take your time doing the original engine over?

 

I wiggled each of the piston rods back and forth, there was no movement in any of them at all, so does seem to be a ROD bearing. Too narrow to be a main bearing, so I am thinking it must be a CAM bearing. Is there an easy way to tell if it is a CAM bearing?

 

So, I wiggled the ROD bearings back and forth and they do not move at all. The debris is too wide to be a MAIN bearing, so I am thinking it must be from a CAM bearing.

Is there an easy way to tell if I have a bad CAM bearing? The engine runs smooth, is not at all noisy, and my oil pressure is at like the 25% mark (with engine warm and idling) on the original L to H dash gauge (no I do not have a seperate oil gauge attached). Here is a visual of what I mean:
L |-----| H
. ^

There are no markings on any of the loose pieces and they are so thin and flimsy it just seems hard to believe they are actually pieces of a bearing, but my buddy insists they are. But I can't think of anything else they could be from....!

 

Here is what my Oil Pressure gauge shows. A little fuzzy, but gives you an idea. Is this abrnormally low for a 302 with 95K on it? Truck was not abused and oil was changed regularly.

 

On my Ford 2800 V-6 that spun the front cam bearing, I had zero idle oil pressure and low running oil pressure.

You really need to hook up an actual mechanical oil pressure gauge to get an accurate oil pressure. What you are showing now, if accurate, is more like a worn engine at hot idle.