I have a 97 SS Camaro with 140k miles on it. It's all stock, but I want to start souping up the engine. However, my concern is that the engine is worn out.

I have low oil pressure and the engine makes a slight knocking/clicking noise as it is running and gets a little louder when you start reving the engine. I'm hesitant to fix it up because if the engine goes, well there goes all my money.

Should I invest in a new engine first? or maybe rebuild this one? I'm not sure how I should approach fixing up this car. But i'm sure I want to.

What would you guys do?

 

In my opinion you'd be throwing away money modding it before you got potentially showstopping issues like oil pressure, and what may well be rod/bearing noise, squared away first. The LT1 SS cars are relatively rare, and in my opinion special enough to save. If it were mine I'd not hesitate to rebuild the engine. HTH

 

Cool, so rebuild > then remanufactured.

I was checking out some engines on ebay and they are $1799 for a remanufactured one. Is it worth investing in that? Or will it be the same as having a mechanic do a rebuild kit on this one?

 

you really dont know what or how well and what tolerences were aloted in the reman engine , so u could get a motor that only last 10k miles or u can build it yourself with performance parts with the help of a knowledged machine shop and have a stout long lasting engine in your rare 97ss camaro,

REBUILD IT!!!!!!!!!

 

Yep, rebuild it. A good machine shop will fix it up nicely.

 

cool, I will do that. Can you guys give me a rough estimate on how much it should cost so I don't get ripped? Or maybe direct me to a shop? I live in California, 20 Min east of Downtown LA (West Covina).

I was thinking around $1500 or so sounds reasonable right?

What kind of performance parts can I put in the motor for the rebuild?

 

i would keep the stock crank and have it turned down .010 to clean it up but a set of forged i beam rods and forged pistons, and take the rest and order all ur gaskets and maybe save for a cam and some port work on the heads,

 

Yep rebuild it with Scat ProComp I beam rods for $300 from Jeg's or Summit then get some forged ft pistons from SRP, Manley etc for about $525 then get the crank turned if it isn't tornup from the rod knock. If the crank is toast I'd buy a forged 3.75" from Ohio Cranks for $525 then have your block machined and either put a main girdle on it with main studs or spring for 4 bolt conversion. Then at tax time get a head & cam package from Lloyd Elliott or AI along with some LT headers and you'll have a flying SS.

 

Based on what you wrote, the engine is definitely rebuildable.

Years ago, when I decided to have my 86 Vette 350 engine re-built, I did the following:

Block cleaned, decked, bored .+.030 and honed
New pistons and rings
Rods re-sized and ARP rod bolts installed
Crank turned .+.010 and indexed
New main and rod bearings
Assembly balanced
Heads: Surfaced, New guides, valve job and springs
New cam, lifters, pushrods and rocker arms
New oil pump and intermediate rod
ECM re-programmed
New spark plug wires and plugs
Gaskets

IIRC, the machine work ran right at $1,000. The parts were extra; the cost to you would depend on which parts you select. I did all the disassembly/re-assembly.

Just trying to give you a ballpark.

Hope this helps.

Jake

West Point ROCKS! Nation's TOP COLLEGE per Forbes Magazine!! Graduation Day Parade 20 May 2010!!!

 

Get it bored .30 over at the machine shop & all other machining services necessary. Get a nice set of forged pistons (Mahle Powerpak is good) and get anice set of forged rods from Scat for $300.

Then if you can swing it, get a Heads/cam setup from Ai for $3500, and that 350ci will make 500 crank hp. Thats what mine does. It screams!

 

What would you guys suggest for someone who has no idea how to rebuild an engine? I'm really new at this stuff so I would have no idea where to start. I hear everything you guys are saying but it's like a foreign language to me lol.

I need this car to drive so i can't really have it laying around for months while I or someone else works on it. I'm really just looking to just take it some place and have them rebuild it for me so it's like a brand new lt1 with maybe some minor fairly cheap upgrades into the actual rebuild. (maybe pistons and rods i suppose)

I don't need it to be too beef'd up since I'm not that much into racing the thing.

Any tips for a newbie?

 

aw, no advice for the newbie mechanic?

 

Have a shop do the short block with cam and you do the rest. By a book and do a lot of reading. Factory assembly manuals are the best. Ask the machinest the best way to go and any questions that come up with your reading of the assembly manual. Do more reading and if you don't have the tools to do the job, you need to get them. Good tools can be found at the local fle market or garage sales

 

so basically what that means is I should try taking it apart and take the block of the engine to a machine shop to have them just refinish it? Then I can put the rest of the parts on?

 

It depends on your level of experience. Sounds like you are uncomfortable doing the work yourself which would save you labor costs.

So with only $1500 bucks, have a shop replace the bearings, seals, and perhaps flex hone the cylinders to seat some new rings.

You mentioned that performance isn't a primary focus and the engine would last you a while.

Variables would include prior maintence and if the cylinders are tapered then you'll need to have the cylinders bored over.