I got a 94 camaro z28 I am about to rebuild the motor having issues with oil pressure dropping to 0 at idle and I at first was gonna just buy a rebuild kit but I got into it and first off noticed that a huge hole had been welded up on the oil pan I pulled the crank and it's got oversized bearings and the block has been punched out 30 over. Should I just replace the block or think I can trust the work they did before me. Not really wanting to build a super powerful motor just wanting a good reliable motor that's gonna push a solid 350 to the wheel

 

Let a machine shop look at it, if it will clean up at .040" then you'll be fine - these blocks are too thin to go more than that.

Did you look at the bottoms of the bores to see if there's cylinder damage? If there's a big repair on the oil pan(odd considering replacement cost) then I wonder if it was run out of oil and broke a rod before....

 

if your .030 over pistons are good, may want to get a stock junkyard donor motor and have itmachined and even use that crank if it is good. may only need a polish. new bearings and rings and use your .030 pistons/rods

should be able to PU a motor for around $200 ish

if you have to go over .030 on existing block...you will need new pistons

low oil pressure typically means FU bearings so your underground crank will need cleaning up and turned down even further. starting with a stock block & crank may save $ and get you a better build in the end

you really won't know until a machine shop inspects/mics your current stuff...but I suspect it will all need machining to get it right meaning you will have to at least get new pistons for a .040 bore

 

Does anyone know anywhere that sells a short block at a decent price? I kinda wanna just replace it all the machine shops around here are all really backed up they said it would be a month before they could get to me and can't wait that long

 

I bought a shortblock from Golen 7 years ago, 383 forged bottom end

"cheaper" would be from one of the large reman places like Jasper...but you get what you pay for

going to be hard to find anything "off the shelf".

Junkyard used but these LT1's are getting old so finding a "good" one is rare.

 

You can also look on sites such as E-Bay, Craigslist, Racingjunk...etc. You should be able to get a used complete engine for around $700.00 or so

 

Have you taken the engine out? One thing you should check first is you oil pump drive splines. They are common to wear out in the lt1 motors. If you take the intake off and on the back side it will look like a cap with a single bolt. In the same spot where the old school distributers use to sit.

Also how many miles are on the car? As for another short block. New or Used? What location state do you live? I know a few f-body shops around my area that have as many short blocks as you need.

94 Z28 A4 known mods... reworked ported heads/intake. Cam, 3" cat back flowmaster. unknown PCM tune. still researching car. ...

1990 RS HO 305, TH350(shift kit). 4 barrel carb, Cam, Long tube headers.