Ok, I found out recently I have a blown head gasket. So now I am faced with a few different options. Of course I need to get the heads checked out and smoothed a bit, but then there is the fear of redoing the top of the motor and the bottom end not holding up to it. MY first thoughts were to just pull the heads and clean them up and do a cam while everything is in the car. Then again I could pull the whole motor out and work on it that way (which is what I do not want to do!!). My shop/garage isn't near finished. I just want to make sure everything is good to go. Any suggestions will be appreciated.

 

Depends what your power goals are. If you are planning on anything that's in the 400rwhp or less area then there really is no reason to build the bottom end (unless you are losing compression etc. and need the rebuild).

 

The 400 range is exactly where I'm wanting to be. It's just I'm concerned about the bearings and such.

 

Let's face facts..............your car is old. I know that sounds kinda rude but it's the truth. I think you would be alot happier rebuilding the whole motor. It will give you peace of mind and would last alot longer. If your gonna do it, do it right......half @ssing ussually cost more in the end. Be ready to fork out the cash, I just finished mine a couple of months ago and I had to shell out just over $6000.00. Just my .02

 

$6000?? What did you buy a new block or what?

 

When i rebuilt my engine the speed pro engine kit with fel-pro gaskets and forged pistons plus machine work (boring, decking, balancing, valve job on heads, etc) cost me just over $1700. I tore down the engine and assembled it myself so that probably saved me some cash. But still, $6,000 seems liek a lot unless you built a 396.

 

for a 355 i dont see that much added cost.. but converting to a 4 bolt engine and boring 30 over is easy $800 in machine work.. add the pistons $700 if you go forged... Bearings, studs, rod bolts, and such and you are looking for ~400 more.. add a full set of gaskets and you are talking about $125 more...

Port and polish heads $1500 with complete valves and such and its not that cheap of a work..

if you have the cash.. PULL THe engine... you will always do it anyways.. its a lot easier to work certain things when the engine is pulled...

 

Look at sig; everything you see I had to buy. torque converter $400, machine work and short blocked (for warranty reasons) $2540.80, Jet-hots $524.00 to my door, plugs $25, plug wires $80, rebuilt my opti $135 (auto zone kit), mad Z tuning $145, LT4 KM $40, Transmission filter......fluid (11 Qts.) $60, Oil and filter $20, Trans cooler $75, X-pipe and bullets $200, having that welded up $80, 160 thermo $20, trust me I could go on and on......... You know how it is when pull the engine, there's all these lil' knick knacks you HAVE to buy. I did it right the first time so I would not have to do it again. FWIW, when I went into this "project" I told the ole' lady it was gonna cost $1500 or so, then $2500, then $3000, then $5000, oooops wrong again $6000 and I still need a better fuel pump and injectors(still stock), and gears. They are VERY soon to come. So yes, if done "right" it will cost quite a bit. Also, so you know I pulled the engine........tore it ALL the way down, and took the parts to the machine shop. I spun a bearing and that's what started all this. IMHO, well worth every penny! So, all in all it was not just a motor but all the parts needed to get MOST of it potential.

 

I can see all your costs there, but I have most of that stuff already so I should be down price-wise (fingers crossed, lol).

 

Yeah you should. I also had to buy 2 new pistons and MANY other things. Good luck.

 

What you could do to save cost is just do the top end now and if the engine ever does spin a bearing or something then go into the bottom end. There's nothing wrong with that.

If you're going to spin a bearing because of wear, your oil pressure would drop significantly before that happens. And if it spins because of dirt or something, then it doesn't matter if the parts in there are new or not. The main wear in a properly maintained engine is the rings against the cylinder wall, so if your compression and oil pressure is good, there is no real good reason the engine should just suddenly "fail" because it's old.

There's a lot of beat-on LT-1's with 180K miles and still running good.

-Dave C. '97 Z28

 

Do the heads/cam.

LT1 stock internals / blocks laugh at 400rwhp.

Mike

 

I am just going to do a mild rebuild. The lt1 kit is reasonably priced from Summit. And the heads and cam won't be much. Not to mention all this is extremely easy to with the motor out. Plus I won't have to get in a hurry. Keep the input coming guys! Thanks.

 

Ok, I have another dumb question. Is it possible to "rebuild" the motor using the old pistons if they are ok?

 

Yes, as long as the cylinder walls are not scored. Just have the block honed so the new rings seat properly, and you're good to go.

Make sure you mark them so you know which one came out of which bore, so you can get them back in the same location. I use a punch on either the rod bearing cap or on the underside of the wrist pin boss to mark the cylinder from which they came. Only punch just enough so you can see the mark....you don't want to distort anything. Mark the cylinder # and which direction the front of the motor is.

-Dave C. '97 Z28