sr20det slight knock questions

[newtonty]

I bought a CA18DET last year off of a buddy that came out of a Silvia, and now i've given in and i'm buying the entire car with his SR20DET in it. the SR has a slight knock (knocks quietly above 3500rpm), in my opinion this is very slight and means the one of the rod bearings are on their way out. the car has not been driven since this knock was first heard, so here are my options. I just purchased a set of rod bearings for it, and i've read you can change them without pulling the engine. when i go to pick up the car i will have a 1-2 week time period to get it going and drive it home (yes i will have a garage with concrete floor to work on it.) so my question is, which is the better option. pulling the oil pan, and quickly switching out the bearings. pulling the engine, quickly switching out the bearings. Or pulling the CA from my S13 hatch, remodifying the wiring harness to work with the silvia again, pulling the SR, dropping the CA in and wiring it up and having the SR shipped back home to do a full rebuild. now, when i say home i mean 12 hours away. my hatchback is in the same town as the silvia at my dads house, and i plan on having one of the 2 engines shipped up to fully build while driving the silvia with one of the 2 engines in.
I just wanted to know your opinions on the situation, and currently to me replacing the bearings seems like the best way to go, as i LOVE the CA and would just love to fully build it
thanks for the input guys.

[kouki munster]

Use the good running engine, if you just throw rod bearings at it to kill the knock, it will, most likely, start to knock again in a short amount of time.

[newtonty]

i should have taken the CA out of the equation as i plan on fully building it while using the SR as a temporary engine, the CA seems to run properly but when i had it hooked up in my hatchback i overlooked the knock sensor and it bogged. i only drove it 2 days and then moved and left it at my dads, so i have not had a chance to check it out. i'm worried it is going to need the rebuild because while testing compression a CoP screw fell in a spark plug hole and was cranked over one full revolution. the bolt was slightly flattened, so i don't want to drive it without checking out the damage. So my plan is to change the bearings, my question is which is a better way? (also "s14, Tire fryer, low boost 319 hp & 299 ft/Ibs, high boost she was being shy and blowing out the spark." go buy a spark plug gauge and adjust your gap a bit. it should fix the problem as long as you're not talking 25lbs+ of boost)

[kouki munster]

For just a quick rod bearing swap there is really not a better way, just pull it apart and get the most accurate measurements of the rods and crank that you can, then go get a set of bearings that will give close to factory clearances, and make sure that you run some thicker oil. But there is still a very good chance that it will end up on the side of the road knocking like hell/rod hanging out the block.

I did tighten the gap and it didn't seem to help,(I think that was to rich and drowning the spark) but before I could narrow it down and fix it the waste gate actuator decided that it didn't want to hold 23psi anymore. Its been like that for about a year and a half because every time I order a replacement actuator something happens and the sellers cancel the order.(happened like 3 times now)