The main reason these engines fail during rebuild is people neglect the fact that if you take out the crank, you have to have the block checked for proper straightness on the crank journals due to the design of the crank main caps. Over a period of heating and cooling cycles, the block wants to "warp" and the only thing keeping it from doing that is those caps. You can put rod bearings in all day long as long as you pay attention to the production date on the block (you can't put rod bearings in a 95 block...the thickness is wrong...I've measured this on multiple early block 3800.) If you have a block dated year 97 and up, you can put rod bearings in as long as you measure properly...and I'm not just talking plastigage...the rod journals and the big end of the rod must be measured as well. Good luck with your rebuild.
