Copper grease in oil sump?? Help

Ok, the caps and rods look pretty good, really need to see all the shells though
Make sure you account for every piece  

This is what my shells look like.

Also this is my oil pump. Do I need to change this as well? 

The 2nd and 6th shell are responsible for the copper debris in the sump.
If the crank looks clean and shiny where these shells were installed you are extremely lucky and I would suggest you buy a lottery ticket

We are a set of shells missing though? We should have 4 sets.
Strip the oil pump out and carry out the backlash check, and gear mating face check. this will tell you the condition of the pump.

I would suggest you buy 5litres of brake cleaner, it's excellent at cleaning oily parts and cleaning dirt and debris from engine components.

You will need to remove a main bearing cap because if they are half as worn as these big end shells they won't last long. They only real way to tell is by visual inspection.

On the tools front make sure you have access to a piston ring installer too!

The actual crank looked very clean👌 I'll buy a ticket and share it with you 🎉 If I win but I'll be Maxed out on luck so I doubt I'll win haha

I'll take the centre main bearing cap off tomorrow and post it on here ? I really hope I don't have to change those too ? Are they hard to do and I'll try googling piston installers 

The other shells are on a piston lol

I would get the crank checked by a specialist if I were you! This main bearings are showing a fair bit of copper and it's hard to tell what the big end shells are like from those pictures. I had a mk2 cavalier back in the early 90's and I stripped the engine to change the piston rings and big ends as it was puffing blue smoke and it had a knock when starting from cold before the oil light went out. The original big ends looked less worn than your main bearings and the crank looked good with no scoring. When I reassembled everything and run the engine in the engine was fine for about 2000 miles and then the big end knock started on the cold stats again. I eventually stripped the engine again and took the crank to a machinist and there was a slight scuff that you could hardly see but when measuring the tolerances it was just out and the crank needed regrinding. It's up to you but it seems an awful waste of time to put it back together without checking and given the history of this engine I would definitely get it checked. Getting back to to the big ends, they don't look great to me and not all bearings have a copper backing, particularly if they've been replaced in the past. 

   the pictures are of the big end bearings, not the mains. They are yet to be seen.
I am an engine specialist and those big ends are on the verge of destruction.
Bearings are always made of a composite, it's lucky that these are original and are not bi metal because the engine would have seized by now.  

Ok ive been back through all your posts Harry, couple of points / questions.

You said you were going to strip it down again and change the valve stem oil seals?
Did you NOT change them when you had the head stripped down?
If you did change them did you follow the guidelines and protect them from the collett lips when re-installing?

With reference to the crank, use the general rule of thumb and carry out a "nail test"
If you can feel any deviation / scoring  / scratching with your thumb nail then the crank will require replacement / regrinding.
Special polish cloths are available but I dont want to get into that right now.
Crank grinding is expensive and on small cranks "going oversize" is not really cost effective in my opinion.

When removing the Main Centre Cap DO NOT try to remove the upper shell, (especially with anything metal like a screwdriver)

***IN-EXPERIENCE HERE CAUSES IR-REPAIRABLE DAMAGE***

If your Main that you remove looks like the big end bearings #4 and #5 in your pics above they are worn out and require replacement.

When changing main bearings you will also need Thrust Washers

  but heres a pic of the last crank i had to replace  

  for anyone thats interested heres most of the Top End  

enough of that, back to business  

tubbett said

   the pictures are of the big end bearings, not the mains. They are yet to be seen.
I am an engine specialist and those big ends are on the verge of destruction.
Bearings are always made of a composite, it's lucky that these are original and are not bi metal because the engine would have seized by now.  

Sorry mate, I quick glance and I saw two lots of 5 and not one lot of 6   ! It also goes to show that it can be deceiving because in some photos the bearings look ok and in others they look worn!
I think we need to go right back to the start and find out the history of the engine, how many miles, why the head gasket was changed and what tests were done before removing the head! I wouldn't pull the head off just because it smoked, I would have wanted to know a whole lot more. Crank regrinding and going under size may be expensive but pulling an engine apart and replacing bits without a proper diagnosis is also expensive.

  no worries  the pictures actually show only 3 sets of big end bearings, the top picture is the side that wears, the bottom picture, the same shells the other way around  

poor harry here has been posting about head re-builds etc and has got himself in a little mess.

So your statement about proper testing is spot on, its a real pet hate of mine  

tubbett said

When changing main bearings you will also need Thrust Washers

Over here the last time I had to replace mains, the place where I purchased them after Plasti-Gaugeing them had inbuilt Thrust washers,  So I would suspect it all depends on which type he purchased.