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I have a 2005 5.3 L33 on the stand right now with a broken outboard starter mounting boss. I had another thread where I discovered the mounting boss had a couple of cracks in it after installing the engine in my S10, and was told to pull it out to fix it properly. That was good advice since the ear must have been worse off than it looked.
The piece that broke off isn't really suitable to just be re-welded back on, I think, and I'd be a bit worried about getting the bolt hole in exactly the right spot again.
I'm going to call my machine shop on Monday and see if they can fix it or know someone who can. In the event that it can't be fixed, my next step is buying either another used engine or buying a reman short block. My heads (799) are fresh back from the machine shop, the cam and valvetrain is new, etc. so I don't really need most of the stuff that would come with a used engine.
Anyone have thoughts on where to get a new short block? If the L33 turns out to be a tough find I may end up with something else, though I'd like it to work with the rest of the parts I've already got for this '05 L33.
Any thoughts or advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Picture of the carnage (it had been drilled/tapped for a Heli-Coil, which explains the threading, and you can see where the crack was being cleaned up for repair at the bottom right. Ugh.)
Somebody with the right setup can weld up a big blob on top of all that, grind it down to the right shape, and drill & tap it back to the right thread. Main thing will be, making sure the hole is in exactly the right place.
That bolt hole looks like it's been seriously cross-threaded at some point.
Sometimes you can drill a messed up hole like that the rest of the way through and just use a nut on top, but if the piece is about to break off, not even that will work.
Find a way to hold/clamp a starter bolt in place, weld the broken piece back on with plenty of filler, then Heli-Coil the hole. Would this work? Is it practical?
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Reman L33 short blocks? 
