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So for now I'm just going to pull the pan and check the bearings. But will removing and and retorquing the main caps one at a time disturb the rear main seal?

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Don't check the bearings, replace them. Pulling the caps probably won't cause a problem for the rear main seal, BUT reusing bearings means you've lost the bearing crush that keeps them where they are supposed to be and in the shape they are supposed to be.

My ?? Gasket set, lifters, timing chain, rod and main bearings, oil pump.


Disassemble it down to the short block. Unless you see major problems with the heads like seriously gunked up valves don't fully disassemble them, just enough to hunt down the pieces of the valve stem seals and replace them. I've run un-hardened J heads for about a hundred thousand miles with major issue. If it has a solid cam, you might need to replace the valve springs, otherwise the lifters will have long since bled down relieving some of the pressure on the open valves.

Pull the lifters and check the lobes, if they all look good, drop a new set of lifters in and plan to break them in just like a new cam. The old oil left in the lifters is probably solidified by now, and replacing the lifters is probably cheaper than disassembling each one and cleaning the internals.

Unless there is major cylinder damage from sitting or indication of a broken ring or something, I wouldn't even pull the pistons. Change each bearing, main and rod, one at a time and look for any serious damage that might indicate need to have the crank polished.

Otherwise, throw it back together with the new gaskets and go.