I couldn't sit and wait for ideas from the forum so I went ahead and removed the oil pan. Rods 1 and 4 were a little loose.
Rod #4. I removed the rod caps and inspected the bearings on #4. The crank journal was still pretty smooth and so was the the big end of the rod. I couldn't hang a fingernail on there when I dragged my fingernail across each part. The bearing only spun a few times since I could still easily read the imprinted numbers on the bearing.
#1 was a bit worse. It was more loose than #4. When I removed the rod cap the bearing was scored up a bit which means it spun a lot more than the #4 did. The scoring was much worse on the bearing than on the crank journal and rod. I need to find an old copper penny so I can try out the "penny test" on #1. Regardless of what happens I'm going to take a chance and order a new standard sized and a "one step oversized" bearings for #1. I'll plastigauge both sized bearings and hope for the best fitment. I know this is NOT how it should be done and that I should pull the engine and rebuild it correctly but hey, it's worth $30 in parts to try it out. Worse case scenario is I have to buy a used short block or do a proper rebuild and throw it in... no biggie for me either way.
I've seen guys have rod bearings worn to paper thickness and they put in a new standard sized bearings and drove for over 15k miles before selling the car. There engines at idle speed sounded like a machine gun. My cars knocking was barely audible at idle and even while cruising so I'm going to {band-aid} fix it and see what happens.
If anyone is interested in this battle, please comment.
