After finally getting the chance to tear my engine down I found that I will be buying a new crank and bearings.

I want to rebuild the engine correctly but I am on a budget so I figured I would just stay with the 350 for now and build a 383 on a stand sometime in the future.

I want to build it right so opinions are welcome.

At the moment, I plan on using

the stock pistons and rods depending on there condition when I get them removed. I'm going to have them spec'd to ensure they can be reused.

Scat 9000 crank

Clevite Bearings

I want to completely tear the engine down and have it check and cleaned to remove any bearing material that may be left.

Since it is torn down I figured that I would replace the rings but I have read that replacing the rings is not recommended unless you bore the engine .020 or .030 over so that the rings can set.
Any Opinions?

I've rebuilt an engine before but it was for my Jeep and my concern was not for performance just transportation so some corners were cut. I don't want to cut any corners on this rebuild.
Its only my second build so I have a very competent engine builder that is willing to assist me during the rebuild.

Comments are welcome but as said before I'm not interested in going to a 383 or putting an all forged rotating assembly in at this time. I'll spend that kind of money in my next engine when I can build it over time.
Besides if I spend that kind of money in my car and fore go saving for a house my Fiance will bury me in the Z so I won't need the parts anyhow.

 

Im in the same boat as you so i am also curious.... I do not want a 383 or anything, just a normal 350, but i want forged internals just for a peice of mind that i wont have to worry about something going wrong later if i decide on nitrous or something

 

You said you don't want to cut corners, but you are already about to cut the most important corner of all. DON'T put the stock pistons back in the engine. If you took the time to tear it down. You must bore it oversize. Unless you engine has less than 40-60k, it will need it.

Whats wrong with your crank? Unless you going all out for power a stock unit will do just fine. The numbers some of us are running on stock bottom end are unreal. If your crank is wipped out bad enough to not reuse it, the rods most likely are also damaged. If your rods are good, install ARP rod bolts in them and have them resized.

What is you overall power goal and budget?

 

Condition of Crank:
When i put the socket on the rod cap I heard the bearing drop.
The crank has a definate step down where the #4 rod bolts down.

I said the Scat 9000 because it is only $220 and supposedly stronger than stock. I'm not knocking stock components because if the crank wasn't wasted I wouldn't even consider replacing the crank.

Honestly, I wouldn't say that I have a definate budget...I just don't feel that I need forged internals for this engine. If I do spray it (hugh if) I will not be going over a 150 shot on this motor.
If spraying a 150 is questionable then I would rather just wait and spray my next engine.

Again...I'm not trying to be cheap or cut corners but I don't want to buy parts for the sake of buying them.

As far as the pistons, why is it not recommend to reuse them?
I always though they could be reused.

 

The Scat 9000 is a fine crank, and although I'm willing to be corrected on this issue, I personally believe it'll take a 150-200 shot with no issues, even on a motor that's already at the 500hp crank hp mark.

I personally would not re-use the stock PM rods and Hyper pistons. You can get really nice aftermarket forged pieces that are lighter than stock, for very little money.

If I were building a scat 9000 based motor would spend some money on line boring, zero-decking and all the usual "good stuff" to the block, balance the rotating assy real well and use the scat 9000 and some 6" Eagle rods with any brandname forged piston. I know that some folks don't like the 6" rods with nitrous or forced induction applications, because the to land gets a bit thin, but really... if you're not constantly hitting the juice and you have a well sorted out package with good injectors and engine management, I wouldn't worry. The kind of power levels you'll be building on a motor like the one you are seeking shouldn't be a problem with 6" rods, and you get the better ratio. Plus, it's cheaper than 5.85".

This is all just my opinion of course. Other folks have different opinions.

 

The stock pistons are crap... everything else in the LT1 is pretty decent. My motor had 34k miles on it when I did the teardown, most of the pistons you can get require a .030 overbore. My pistons were the reason I had to teardown. When I took my motor in for the machining, we found it was only a few dollars more to go with new eagle SIR forged rods over having the stock rods checked and reconditioned to go back in. The only thing I didn't do was a new crank, only because at the time I built the motor, I couldn't afford a new crank.

You should be able to get a decent set of forged pistons for fairly cheap.

It really comes down to this... with the amount of time it takes to pull the motor, its more cost effective to just replace them... but the other side to that is there are a lot of things that could/should be done while you were in there... and its pretty easy to spend a few grand on a motor when you really didn't want to.

 

Thanks all for your thoughts.

More are always welcome.

 

Have the machine shop check the crank, it may still be usable... hard to say without a picture.

Compare costs on reconditioning your PM rods and buying a set of Scat I-beams at ~$250 (engine builder can probably get them cheaper). Then consider using KB hypereutectic pistons. They make a lightweight (485 g) that'll set you back ~$240 for the set. A set of Speed Pro rings will round out your piston/rod assembly on a budget.

I assume you're having the block machined?

If so, you can't reuse the stock pistons anyway.

-Mindgame

 

I was actually looking at the Scat rotating assembly.
They seem to have everything you need and they will balance the setup also.