i am in the process of reassembling a 454.....i know i need to replace my rod bearings, do i need to go ahead and replace the main bearings also? and what is a decent set to go with? not a stock build, but nothing extreme either.

As far as doing the mains.....if you have to crack the caps off,then yes....if you want the added piece of mind, then yes....but if it was ME, I'd do it since I did that anyways since I had to replace the oil pump.

I plastigaged it, checked the specs, and then just went to my local speed shop and ordered what I needed. Rechecked specs with new bearing and went on from there....

You're so deep into the engine you might as well do them while you're at it to get the most life out of the the engine build. Regardless of the area I'm working on, when I'm doing a big job like that, I like to replace everything unless it's completely unneccessary or it would put me way over budget.

Any decent trimetal bearing will work for you, like Clevite or ACL. Watch out with with FM bearings, a lot of their numbers are aluminum bearings which are junk IMHO.

Kings..

pdq67