Jumped on the band wagon..
Jumped on the band wagon.. Found a 05' LM7 long block for $300 in good shape. I decided to buy it and toss some coated bearings in, New ring set, rod bolts, lifters, springs, push rods and keep it for a spare.. Maybe a cam I haven't decided. What is a
Good cheap boosted cam to run with a set of 66mm twins?
Anything I'm missing or wasting money on? I'm new to the whole JY thing and trying to keep this as cheap as possible..
Good cheap boosted cam to run with a set of 66mm twins?
Anything I'm missing or wasting money on? I'm new to the whole JY thing and trying to keep this as cheap as possible..
TECH Senior Member
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 8,032
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If going for the **cheap** mode, and it truely is in good shape, ditch the new bearings and rings. Regap the rings for boost unless it all ready has 150K miles on it.
New rod bolts does sound good though.
New rod bolts does sound good though.
Motor was said to have 93k on it when it was pulled. It had a pretty decent amount of build up in it though. New bearings are a must in my book. I dont mind spending a little $$ if it means the motor will stay together but i dont want to go over board on a small bore engine. Take in mind i will be throwing a lot of power at this stock rotating assembly if the time comes. With that said I Think the rings can be re-used. Also any idea. if the main cap bolts are ok to re-use? They looked like it.
Be absolutely sure to check your bearing clearances if running coated bearings. The coating eats up some of your clearance and can cause you to end up too tight. As far as the main bolts, think about the last time you saw a main bolt break! I think you'll be fine. Good luck, I'm sure you'll keep us posted.
Be absolutely sure to check your bearing clearances if running coated bearings. The coating eats up some of your clearance and can cause you to end up too tight. As far as the main bolts, think about the last time you saw a main bolt break! I think you'll be fine. Good luck, I'm sure you'll keep us posted.
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Verdad Gallardo Yep. Seems to run good. Idles at 800 (kinda lopey) and pulls 17.5-18" of vac after some fine tuning. Still lopey though after the tuning. Quiet valvetrain, did go with longer pushrods which I think is pretty standard practice with a aftermarket cams.
I think you're approach is the right one. Just like any other engine, whether it's a 5,300 rpm buzzard, or a 10,000 rpm screamer, keep enough oil in the right places and pay attention to the details (i.e. clearances correct) and you'll be fine. Looking forward to this one.
I'm using a machine shop fresh 5.3 for about the same price as a junkyard motor
I didn't need anything but a shortblock, and the new bearings, rings, bolts was a little peace of mind
Using all stock parts other than the valve springs I've made 730 unlocked with bb China gt35s and e85
I'm fairly happy with the ls6 cam I'm using honestly
It idles good, boost comes in quick, and it's making good power
I'm sure a cam change would pick up some power but im making more than I can use already
I didn't need anything but a shortblock, and the new bearings, rings, bolts was a little peace of mind
Using all stock parts other than the valve springs I've made 730 unlocked with bb China gt35s and e85
I'm fairly happy with the ls6 cam I'm using honestly
It idles good, boost comes in quick, and it's making good power
I'm sure a cam change would pick up some power but im making more than I can use already
I'm using a machine shop fresh 5.3 for about the same price as a junkyard motor
I didn't need anything but a shortblock, and the new bearings, rings, bolts was a little peace of mind
Using all stock parts other than the valve springs I've made 730 unlocked with bb China gt35s and e85
I'm fairly happy with the ls6 cam I'm using honestly
It idles good, boost comes in quick, and it's making good power
I'm sure a cam change would pick up some power but im making more than I can use already
I didn't need anything but a shortblock, and the new bearings, rings, bolts was a little peace of mind
Using all stock parts other than the valve springs I've made 730 unlocked with bb China gt35s and e85
I'm fairly happy with the ls6 cam I'm using honestly
It idles good, boost comes in quick, and it's making good power
I'm sure a cam change would pick up some power but im making more than I can use already
I agree most do more harm than good playing with bearings. If the bearings in it are in good shape, run them. No need to do machine work if it's not absolutely necessary. Then you run into machine shop competence, tooling quality, etc. You can bet GM does a better job than most machinists out there. The bearings aren't going anywhere. New GM bearing spec is as tight as .0009. I usually see under .002 on 150k+ motors. (rods and mains) New hone/rings are a great idea. Rod bolts aren't IMO.
LS6 cams are hyped up. Making them not cheap or easy to find. Just copy what works. 5.3 Record holder runs a 224/230 113 on twins. Run something as close to that as you could find IMO.
Picked up my Howards 224/224 @ 113 for $308. Also ran the trick flow cam mentioned above right before that. I like the Howards grind MUCH better. Trick flow cam was lazy by comparison. (on my 6.0 anyway)
Summit and Jegs will price match anything out there and get it to you quicker. I believe Autoplicity had the cheapest deal when I bought mine. Here's a list of the popular Howards stuff. Google search the PN once you find one you like.
http://www.competitionproducts.com/H...products/1724/
I'm doing something similar now. Using 4.8 crank, 5.3 alum block and short gen4 5.3 rods. Will make for a strong bottom end with the short stroke and short rods. With the piston .17 in the hole it will be a wheezy 7.X:1 turd.
LS6 cams are hyped up. Making them not cheap or easy to find. Just copy what works. 5.3 Record holder runs a 224/230 113 on twins. Run something as close to that as you could find IMO.
Picked up my Howards 224/224 @ 113 for $308. Also ran the trick flow cam mentioned above right before that. I like the Howards grind MUCH better. Trick flow cam was lazy by comparison. (on my 6.0 anyway)
Summit and Jegs will price match anything out there and get it to you quicker. I believe Autoplicity had the cheapest deal when I bought mine. Here's a list of the popular Howards stuff. Google search the PN once you find one you like.
http://www.competitionproducts.com/H...products/1724/
I'm doing something similar now. Using 4.8 crank, 5.3 alum block and short gen4 5.3 rods. Will make for a strong bottom end with the short stroke and short rods. With the piston .17 in the hole it will be a wheezy 7.X:1 turd.
Last edited by Forcefed86; Sep 8, 2015 at 01:52 PM.
I agree most do more harm than good playing with bearings. If the bearings in it are in good shape, run them. No need to do machine work if it's not absolutely necessary. Then you run into machine shop competence, tooling quality, etc. You can bet GM does a better job than most machinists out there. The bearings aren't going anywhere. New GM bearing spec is as tight as .0009. I usually see under .002 on 150k+ motors. (rods and mains) New hone/rings are a great idea. Rod bolts aren't IMO.
LS6 cams are hyped up. Making them not cheap or easy to find. Just copy what works. 5.3 Record holder runs a 224/230 113 on twins. Run something as close to that as you could find IMO.
Picked up my Howards 224/224 @ 113 for $308. Also ran the trick flow cam mentioned above right before that. I like the Howards grind MUCH better. Trick flow cam was lazy by comparison. (on my 6.0 anyway)
Summit and Jegs will price match anything out there and get it to you quicker. I believe Autoplicity had the cheapest deal when I bought mine. Here's a list of the popular Howards stuff. Google search the PN once you find one you like.
http://www.competitionproducts.com/H...products/1724/
I'm doing something similar now. Using 4.8 crank, 5.3 alum block and short gen4 5.3 rods. Will make for a strong bottom end with the short stroke and rods. With the piston .17 in the hole it will be a wheezy 7.X:1 turd.
LS6 cams are hyped up. Making them not cheap or easy to find. Just copy what works. 5.3 Record holder runs a 224/230 113 on twins. Run something as close to that as you could find IMO.
Picked up my Howards 224/224 @ 113 for $308. Also ran the trick flow cam mentioned above right before that. I like the Howards grind MUCH better. Trick flow cam was lazy by comparison. (on my 6.0 anyway)
Summit and Jegs will price match anything out there and get it to you quicker. I believe Autoplicity had the cheapest deal when I bought mine. Here's a list of the popular Howards stuff. Google search the PN once you find one you like.
http://www.competitionproducts.com/H...products/1724/
I'm doing something similar now. Using 4.8 crank, 5.3 alum block and short gen4 5.3 rods. Will make for a strong bottom end with the short stroke and rods. With the piston .17 in the hole it will be a wheezy 7.X:1 turd.
The bearings looked ok but far from "brand new" I see nothing wrong with having the crank polished and ordering a set of bearings to match the crank with desired clearances if it even deviates at all. There will be no machine work involved in that. My local guy charges like $40 to go through the crank and make sure its straight/polished and ready to roll.
Why do you not recommend the rod bolts? Balancing issues? I have a 3 stone hone tool i can throw on the end of a drill to scuff up the walls a bit. I'm thinking this will be fine as long as i keep an eye on the diameter?
Good call with the cam.. I forgot that S10 had a set of 66mm turbos on it.. copying his setup is a good idea.
Not saying there is anything wrong with it, just that it’s not usually necessary. IMO anytime new bearings are used the crank should be machined to get the journals as close to perfectly round as possible. If you don’t plan on doing that, then stick with factory bearings.
Taking an engine perfectly broken in over many years with great bearing tolerances and putting new bearings in it doesn’t’ make sense to me for a JY build. A few scratches are totally normal as long as they aren’t deep. I don’t see the time/money VS performance in changing them. If there’s no damage it means the engine has had millions of happy rotations and the parts are “mated”.
I don’t suggest rod bolts because per GM they aren’t TTY fasteners. Again you have an engine that is perfectly broken in. Putting aftermarket (or even new oem) hardware in the rods can cause problems. (not saying it will always cause problems.) I’ve also never seen one fail. Read over Silver_82’s build. You’ll see he is using original bearings, rod bolts etc.
https://ls1tech.com/forums/forced-in...d-grenade.html
Taking an engine perfectly broken in over many years with great bearing tolerances and putting new bearings in it doesn’t’ make sense to me for a JY build. A few scratches are totally normal as long as they aren’t deep. I don’t see the time/money VS performance in changing them. If there’s no damage it means the engine has had millions of happy rotations and the parts are “mated”.
I don’t suggest rod bolts because per GM they aren’t TTY fasteners. Again you have an engine that is perfectly broken in. Putting aftermarket (or even new oem) hardware in the rods can cause problems. (not saying it will always cause problems.) I’ve also never seen one fail. Read over Silver_82’s build. You’ll see he is using original bearings, rod bolts etc.
https://ls1tech.com/forums/forced-in...d-grenade.html
Not saying there is anything wrong with it, just that it’s not usually necessary. IMO anytime new bearings are used the crank should be machined to get the journals as close to perfectly round as possible. If you don’t plan on doing that, then stick with factory bearings.
Taking an engine perfectly broken in over many years with great bearing tolerances and putting new bearings in it doesn’t’ make sense to me for a JY build. A few scratches are totally normal as long as they aren’t deep. I don’t see the time/money VS performance in changing them. If there’s no damage it means the engine has had millions of happy rotations and the parts are “mated”.
I don’t suggest rod bolts because per GM they aren’t TTY fasteners. Again you have an engine that is perfectly broken in. Putting aftermarket (or even new oem) hardware in the rods can cause problems. (not saying it will always cause problems.) I’ve also never seen one fail. Read over Silver_82’s build. You’ll see he is using original bearings, rod bolts etc.
https://ls1tech.com/forums/forced-in...d-grenade.html
Taking an engine perfectly broken in over many years with great bearing tolerances and putting new bearings in it doesn’t’ make sense to me for a JY build. A few scratches are totally normal as long as they aren’t deep. I don’t see the time/money VS performance in changing them. If there’s no damage it means the engine has had millions of happy rotations and the parts are “mated”.
I don’t suggest rod bolts because per GM they aren’t TTY fasteners. Again you have an engine that is perfectly broken in. Putting aftermarket (or even new oem) hardware in the rods can cause problems. (not saying it will always cause problems.) I’ve also never seen one fail. Read over Silver_82’s build. You’ll see he is using original bearings, rod bolts etc.
https://ls1tech.com/forums/forced-in...d-grenade.html
