78TranzAm

Crooks is an understatement... Lol. But ya, I've always preferred to get a beat up running SUV or truck but I can no longer have them sitting in my driveway thanks to HOA. I even found a complete running yukon for $1000 before I went to this junkyard and spent $800 on this 4.8 but I'm selling my bad 4.8 to a buddy for $200 so I'll only be into this one for $600. But sadly given the prices on LS stuff here in Tx now even a 250k mile 4.8 is easily worth $600 so, I'll just have to stick with it and hope that it doesn't have any issues. Won't take me but a day to get it in and running and their warranty last 90 days but I wonder how much BS I'd have to go through if I took it back under warranty...

Also, I try to see it from both sides. In their defense the last time the vehicle/engine was inspected in Tx was 2012 which was when it had 110,000 miles. After that it left to Oklahoma so, I believe they just go off the mileage that was last reported in Tx. But, who knows. If they had up charged me for the "low" mileage and then I ran that Carfax then we'd definitely have an issue.

NastyNate65

Are the days of $500 5.3 engines already gone? Damn inflation! Love the project. Did you prep the engine bay and fenderwells by sanding/grinding or just spray some black paint over the bare/rusty metal? Just curious. I am spending way too much time grinding rust out of my project and painting with POR15 and it is taking forever!

78TranzAm

I wouldn't say theyre "gone", but here in Tx where i live theyre hard to come by unless i drive 2 hours to Dallas, Houston, San Antonio then 2 hours home. Then you take the chance that its even good and theres no gurantee or warranty. Theres so many people that part vehicles out here, you never know what youre getting unless theyre actually honest which, i got the short end of the stick with the 4.8 i just got running. Was told it was a good motor but obviously not. But 6.0s are crazy expensive here...

I actually got very lucky with the engine bay on this car given all the other rust it has. Being a factory black car already, the engine bay was already black just needed cleaning and there wasn't anything except some surface rust under the battery tray which typically is rusted through. Not sure if i posted pics on here of before and after doing the engine bay? ill have to go back through the thread and look. But i used an acidic type cleaner, hit it with a pressure washer than sprayed it with semi gloss engine paint. Definitely not show quality but plenty good for this car.

78TranzAm

Got the engine pulled. Didn't take long. Just made a nice mess. Called the junkyard this morning around 10:30 to see if the engine would be ready to pick up. I was told that they had moved the tahoe to their shop area where they pull parts and to call back. I just called back at 2:30 and was told it won't be till Monday... So, either its just one guy working or they actually think the motor only has 110,000 miles on it and theyre trying to switch it out on me.. I looked at their website the day after i bought the engine and they had another 4.8 with "low miles" and the price was $950... LOL. So, now we just wait and see how it runs when i get it in. Not sure if im going to waste the extra time hooking the transmission up to it and putting it all in or just putting the engine in and seeing how it runs first.

Also, i found a lifter thats completely wasted. Drained the oil also and it was completely full of nice sparkly metal lol. So, engine is toast, as expected.

78TranzAm

So they finally had the engine ready a week later... Picked it up and this is what i got for $800... This is their "complete assembly" engine. Which i guess i took "complete assembly" as a complete engine. Guess not... So i got it home and started tearing it down. Wanted to just put what i needed on it to get it in the car so i can just fire it up and see if it runs without knocking or tapping. Everything was going along fine then bam, was tightening the oil pan and it decided to split about 8 inches long... I literally have the worst luck when it comes to cars... I got that pan for $75 too... So i just bit the bullet and bought one for quite a bit more so i can get it in the car and running ASAP.

78TranzAm

Found a guy in my Facebook group that had a GTO oil pan. Sent it to me for $175 which is a good deal. Unfortunately not as good of a deal as the last one which was only $75 lol. But you definitely wont catch me complaining about it, just thankful i didn't have to pay full price for a new one. While im waiting on that i got my old engine sold and the new one cleaned up. Not putting anything on it except for whats needed to put it in the car and hear it run. After ive found that it runs with no issues ill put everything back on it.

ryeguy2006a

iTrader: (27)

Motor cleaned up really nicely! What did you use?

78TranzAm

There's an acidic spray I've used for years I get from dollar general. It's called Awesome something, I don't remember the name (I can get a pic of the bottle if anyone is interested) It works great. I typically use it to clean the inside of cars I used to flip but you have to dilute it with water or it'll eat up whatever color the plastic is painted. I'll even spray it on the driveway where I spilled some fluid from whatever I'm working on at the time then pressure wash it.

But I sprayed that all over this 5 times, let it soak for a min then hit it with a pressure washer. Then hit it with a wire wheel on a drill then finished with the pressure washer.

68Formula

In for the pic!

78TranzAm

Here is the cleaner for those interested. Its at Dollar General. A really good one to put a couple bottles in a bucket and let valve covers, front and rear covers soak in over night.

Jimbo1367

We bought that (LA totally awesome). Just to try. Wow. It got grime out of a console on my work car that everything else couldn’t get.

thanks for sharing. It’s dirt cheap and works awesome. I wonder if it’s safe for the hands though. I always forget to check the bottle lol

G Atsma

Yeah, you might need to check if a hazmat suit is needed, but hey, it's fun to live on the ragged edge.... LOL

tblentrprz

From the SDS

COMPOSITION/INFORMATION ON INGREDIENTS
Chemical name CAS number Percent by Weight
Butyl Carbitol 111-90-0 0.01 to 2.5%
Ecosurf EH-9 64366-70-7 0.5 to 4.0%
Sodium Metasilicate 6834-92-0 0.5 to 1.5%
Tetra Sodium EDTA 64-02-8 0.5 to 1.5%
Water 7732-18-5 QS

Not a high percentage of active ingredients but serious strong stuff.

78TranzAm

I've used it for years and i've had it on my hand plenty of times. I usually rinse my hands off after 5-10 min of it being on my hands and have never had any issues. Obviously its not a product id just leave on my hands for hours lol. But it works on EVERYTHING. If you have a dirty leather seat it works great and even cloth. Just with cloth it helps to take a toothbrush or something and rub it in.

78TranzAm

So for the first time ever i finally got a DEAL in my town. Typically stuff like this doesn't last an hour in which this literally didn't. I wasnt looking for anything. I just opened marketplace and there it was right in front of my face lol. I happened to be on the right side of town when the guy had posted it for sale. I saw the post 40 min after he posted it. I just drove over to his shop. Didnt waste time hoping he'd reply to my messages lol. So, i ended up with a complete 5.3 for only $450. Which from what i understand is the typical going price in other states but in Tx theyre not that cheap anymore. He said it has 119,xxx miles but im skeptical. He also stated it had a small "RV" cam in it which i laughed in my head about because thats the old 350 trick to get a little more HP by putting in an "RV" cam so either he was just flat out lying or someone told him that... LOL. But either way he swore it ran good with no issues and from what i can tell its never been opened up aside from just getting a tune up however long ago that was as the spark plug wires were so dry they just broke off so, maybe we'll see how well it runs at some point or maybe ill sell it but as of right now its going to be a back up motor or a motor for me to continue LS swapping the world lol.

Now that "complete assembly" but not complete assembly i paid $800 for at the junkyard should have looked like this for $800. Not the long block with intake, coil packs, and water pump i got for $800.

Of course i had to clean it up. Is it weird that i enjoy/have to clean up my engines yet i have no care for big ol rust holes and they don't bother me? Am i sick or? lolol




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78TranzAm

So i couldn't wait for my GTO oil pan to show up tomorrow so i just removed the center link and stuck the engine in with the truck oil pan on it. Hooked everything up and got it running. Ran horribly the first 3 times which worried me for obvious reasons. Then i noticed i didn't hook up the brake booster to the back of the intake. Whoops lol. After fixing that it ran much better, not knocking sounds so far so thats a good sign. Weirdly no top end clatter either given i couldn't get the engine to prime on just cranking and at idle it was only at 20psi. Which i believe is my fault. I think i used the wrong bolt to bolt in the pick up tube and it may not be seated in all the way, or i used the wrong o-ring but i don't think i did. Either way ill find out tomorrow when i put on the GTO oil pan. Its the brand new melling oil pump i installed on the last engine so it shouldn't be the pumps fault. Anyways, im assuming i have to post a link to YouTube to post a video so ill post that below.

Sorry for the low quality. My phones about 3 years old. I need to update it as i might start making YouTube videos but here it is. Also threw in my ratty 71 Challenger i sold last year.

ryeguy2006a

iTrader: (27)

Motor sounds good, maybe you got a break this time. You should throw that new motor in the car and test it out since you can change motors as fast as most people change oil haha.

78TranzAm

Ya I mean, I guess the good coming from all this is I can pull an engine and re install one pretty quickly now but man, I just want an engine to stay in the car already lol

78TranzAm

Oil pan showed up today. Definitely looks like it came off a low mile car. Member in my Facebook group Pro Touring Buildz definitely saved me this go round again as my last one also came from a guy in my group. And i found out why my other oil pan cracked while putting the new one on. On the back driver side corner the gasket had broken off the truck oil pan and was still stuck on the block. So when i tightened up the oil pan with a new gasket it put the corner of the pan into a bind which caused it to crack.. I mean can we seriously just talk about how un lucky i am??? lol. But anyways, I threw the pan on, put the accessories back on because i wanted to run the car long and see how it acts. I got it back in the car, hooked up the radiator and everything else then let it idle. And as much as i don't want to jinx myself, so far so good. Perfect oil pressure and temp once the thermostat finally opened. The temp got to about 210 and i got worried but didn't as these motors run 210-220 from the factory so im assuming the water pump has a stock thermostat in it. Might change that down the road. But once the thermostat opened the temp dropped dramatically.

So now on to figuring out how to get the transmission hooked up to the engine without pulling the engine back out. Should get interesting.

78TranzAm

Just a daytime video of it running. Put the wrinkle black valve covers back on, a set of cleaner coil packs, hooked the charging system back up and re tucked the harness wiring. Still some minor wire tucking needed but main objective is getting the transmission hooked back up, Of course the engine started knocking after i completely filled up the transmission and put a new gasket on the pan... Just cant wait till i can bolt the hood back on but don't want to test my luck... lol