thinking about a simple rebuild

I just have a few questions about an enigne rebuild. I am thinking of rebuilding my 87 4.0 myself in a month or two because the lifters are getting pretty noisy. I was just wondering if there is any way for me to do a simple rebuild without having to involve a machine shop since the nearest shop is about 150 miles away. I was wondering if it is possible to remove the old cam bearings and install new ones myself, and weather the piston pins have to be pressed or not. I am hoping that I will be able to reuse my pistons, crank and connecting rods. Mainly I just want to replace the bearings, cam and lifters, timing set and possibly the oil pump. Mainly I just want to quiet the lifters down and get a bit more life out of the engine. I am pretty new to internal engine work, I've taken a running scrap 4.0 apart before but thats about it.

If you're having lifter noise it might be that they are gummed up...but they could be worn out and bleeding off pressure.If they are gummed up you could try a motor flush and after that add some marvel mystery oil in the oil to further clean things out.I'm pretty sure a machine shop has to press in the cam bearings.....as far as the piston pins they have to be pressed also.

If you have concerns about doing a motor flush then just do the MMO treatment. Change the oil, leaving out enough oil so you can add a quart of MMO. Run it as you normally would for a couple of weeks then repeat the process, if you notice the lifter noise quieting down then go two more week and repeat the process again.
I had a big block Pontiac that took three treatments, but it did clear up the lifter noise and "popping " back thru the carb due to the lifters.

Well I have already tried EOS (Engine Oil Supplement) and Lucas Oil Stabalizer. I don't know if I can get MMO around here, I've never seen it or Sea Foam availible. The procedure for this stuff sounds a little different but, the noise for me its just an occassional tap that comes or goes.

Car Quest in Sydney has Marvel Mystery Oil.

I'll have to have a look there, by the way I probably should add, when I used Lucas it helped a bit but, I decided not to use lucas the next time because it thickens the oil up and we used to have cold winters around here. I may start running it again in the warmer months.

A true "rebuild" would generally require the services of an automotive machine shop; especially if the engine has the miles (KM's) that an '87 would have. You can probably get away with a "ring and bearing" job, as long as there are no major problems with your engine. You will need to understand that the results are not the same, meaning it may or may not perform as you expect.
You can replace the cam bearings yourself, with the combination of a long threaded bolt and the appropriate sized "plug" to pull out the old bearings, and the appropriate tool to drive the new ones in place. Unless you are going to replace one or more pistons, you probably don't need to remove the pistons from the rods.
What you should do is research basic engine overhaul methods so that you can intelligently determine what your engine must have done to it, as a minimum. As an example, you need to determine if the cylinders are within specs, both to being round, and to taper--you need to know how to do that, including the need to determine which tools, or substitute procedures are needed to perform that task, and all other tasks needed to evaluate your engines minimum needs.

as soon as the snow is gone its coming off the road (I'm going to be driving a 91 Jetta turbo diesel now) and I am going to check a few things on the engine (ie. compression) and then pull if need be (going to try that marvel mystery oil next oil change). I pretty know for sure if that dosn't do it that I need valve lifters, and I might as well replace the Cam if I am putting lifters in to it. I don't have any illusions that I am going to be getting a new motor out of this, pretty much all I want to do is keep it from blowing up without having to worry about at least a 300 mile round trip to get it to the machine shop. I have thought about just getting a crate engine if need be but, thats not going to be cheap either and I am kind of trying to be economical about this. I still have the other 4.0 I disassembled from a few years ago so I think I am going to start trying to do some of those tests on that. I am going to get a good feeler gauge set soon, and I already have an alright didgital micrometer so I think I will start from there, I have the Haynes and Chilton's manuals for it so I am going to start reading those as well. The engine has 236,xxx km on it, which isn't much on an engine thats 20 years old. Rest assured this isn't going to be the last question I ask here, I'm probably going to get a good digital camera and take pictures along the way.

You could also substitute a quart of ATF but I'd not drive it, just let it idle for 20 min or so, then drop the oil and change the filter. Some old timers swore by a quart of kerosene before changing the old oil, run for 15 min and drop it out for new oil. I've seen it done 15 or 20 times on junkyard slant 6's put in old valiants and such. The lucas products are more oil thickeners than anything else, similar to STP and such. For a longer term clean out, do a 50/50 mix of Mobil-1 and regular motor oil, the synthetic oil will clean it but just more slowly over time.

Almost word for word, I am gearing up to do the same thing here, and expecting the same results. I have done bearings and such laying on my back, I have pulled heads to do valve work hanging over a fender. It will be a pleasure to work on an engine on a stand where you can actually see what you are doing, and not have to visit a chiropractor at the end of the day..
Good idea with the digital pics. I photograph all my work for reference later, and sometimes it helps others too.
Good Luck with your rebuild!