madmike9396

iTrader: (29)

I bet that thing is a beast when running... good luck on your venture

elliss12

iTrader: (1)

Thanks! I drove it a little and its like driving on ice haha. I'm pretty anxious to get it running right.

LS1-450

iTrader: (33)

Have you confirmed that the water pump is working?

#7 is completely washed out from the head gasket leak.

Bob@BruteSpeed

iTrader: (16)

Hopefully that isn't a crack. Bob

elliss12

iTrader: (1)

LS1-450 - I have not, it had so much coolant in the oil I didn't want to run it until the known problems were fixed. Exactly, the combustion chamber was steam cleaned so that is the suspect although I haven't found anything yet


Bob- I thought that at first but it actually seems like a ridge from a possible piston or ring failure or other issue explaining the new piston. The cylinder walls don't look that great. I'm going to bring it to BDC and inspect for any cracks. At 7' o clock position on the block next to the liner, it almost looked like a crack but I think its just on the surface.

Bob@BruteSpeed

iTrader: (16)

Hopefully a scratch is all it is, keep your fingers crossed. Bob

elliss12

iTrader: (1)

Hoping for the best! I'll check it out more thorough after work today.

Pop N Wood

iTrader: (1)

I would go ahead the have the heads milled before putting them back on. I had coolant leaking out my exhaust. I'm guessing head gasket, possibly due to the time it overheated when the alternator belt broke. Heads measured flat to < 3 thousands, but went ahead and had them resurfaced before reinstalling.

Might be cheaper to do it right the first time.

elliss12

iTrader: (1)

Well I found out whats going on.... Cracked block and liner. This thing is toast. I didnt notice it last night because it was getting dark. I'm going to hopefully find an ls1 shortblock to swap in, I dont want an iron block unless I have to.

LS1-450

iTrader: (33)

Well that sucks. I have one & we're not that far away. Send me a PM if interested.

HighLiner

iTrader: (1)

Why not rear mount the radiator?

elliss12

iTrader: (1)

Well, I have a couple leads on some ls1 shortblocks in the ~$500 range. Hopefully I will be able to pick something up this weekend. The t5 grinds so maybe this will be a good time to pull the engine/trans and do synchros.


Highliner- Interesting idea, I've seen it done on trucks. Not sure how it would be done on this application though.

Aston Tibs

iTrader: (3)

Well that sucks, good luck with the rebuild.

Bob@BruteSpeed

iTrader: (16)

In a car that lightweight, I'd try to stay with an aluminum block too. Bob

elliss12

iTrader: (1)

Thanks, I plan to have it running/driving in a couple weeks with a healthier trans.


I cant find much info but I believe the LS1 might be lighter or roughly the same as the stock iron 4 cyl that came out. I can use all the lightweight I can get until I can find a solution to get some bigger brakes.

Michael Yount

iTrader: (1)

FWIW I weighed the 5.0L Ford that came out of my Volvo 242 and the LS3 that's going in. Both configured the same - no flywheel, no accessories except water pump and balancer, all fuel injection and ignition components in place. The thin wall cast iron Ford with aluminum heads and long runner efi intake weighed 411 lbs. The LS3 (Corvette C6) weighed 393 lbs. Having pulled a bunch of them over the decades, I doubt seriously that your cast iron block 4 cylinder weighed that much ---- nevertheless, adding lightness only works......every time.

elliss12

iTrader: (1)

Whoops youre right, I was looking at the wrong size. 300lbs is stock engine, ls1 is 385-400lbs from what ive read. Some of those 4cyl engines will surprise you, ford 2.3t was 450lbs!

Michael Yount

iTrader: (1)

Well - I'll say this about a 450 lb 2.3 L 4 banger - there's of data on the web that gets passed around as fact. I began to realize if you don't weigh it yourself and compare apples to apples (w/accessories? Without? With some? Manifolds? Cast iron or steel? Flywheel/flexplate/nothing? Boosted? Turbo or super? Intercooled? Etc, etc) then you probably don't really know what you've got.

HighLiner

iTrader: (1)

Rear mount radiator.

elliss12

iTrader: (1)

Kind of a cool idea, seems like a hard solution to an easy problem though in my opinion.


I picked up a LS1 short block over the weekend, 100k miles on it from a 2000 camaro. It appears to be in very clean useable shape. Plan is to just swap cam, heads, everything else over to it. I will start a build thread once I get some good progress done. Might even have it running in a few days if I'm feeling ambitious! Thanks everyone for the help!