Thanks.

One thing I noticed when Chris was showing me the pistons was what looked to me like abrasive wear on the piston skirt. I only looked at one and wasn't there very long, but they all seemed to have this wear pattern on them.

Chris seemed to think its unlikely that this motor was only ran 2 months, or that it's very high mileage for such a short period if it was. (jasper and carfax overlap a 2 month period between motor build date and vehicle total date.) He also noted what he said looked like "dirt" in the bottom of the oil pan.

Should I be concerned?

 

I'd say skirt wear would be normal if they reused the pistons, but I think they bored it a little right? which would mean they should've used new pistons. Could be possible the piston was a little bigger than they wanted and bore to piston clearance was really thin. Either way it should be ok if it's minimal wear and no deep grooves, and if the cylinder walls are ok. Mine had some wear and I reused my pistons.

 

The cylinder walls look good to me. They're polished like a mirror and don't show any deep abrasions, just.. seemingly normal wear from what I've seen from other photos of "used" engines.

I didn't get a look at the upper portion of the cam bearings, and honestly didn't spend much time looking at the main bearings, but from what I could see everything else looked healthy to me.

The original cam had some wear marks on it.. more than I'd say the lifters had.

Maybe jasper engines re-uses "good" pistons and cams in their rebuilds, but uses a turned crank and rods, new bearings, and lifters?

I mean if you're a company that services and rebuilds engines.. I imagine if you can cut cost by reusing "good" used parts you would do it.

 

buyer's remorse..

so.. you know how I'm fricken crazy right?

Well I paid $750 for a/c components, then spent $100 to have them installed, then $100 to have the system recharged.

The result? 50 degree air.

I lost my mind.. drove down to the dealership..

I now have a 2012 2SS in like a graphite color.

Problem is the Lq4 is still getting built.

I'm not gonna stop working on the motor. I just.. will have to decide what to put it in heh.

I have a 98 v6 5 speed that could probably go stripper drag car.. (T56 conversion from 5 speed?)

I also have my 57 belair, but.. I don' t know that a ~400-440whp setup is a good idea for that car.

I feel like an idiot.. and have pretty mixed emotions about what I did.

At least my a/c works now tho... what a moron..

 

What I'll probably be doing, is recouping my funds, putting the motor back on the stand for a little while, then picking up a ~2-3k roller that's in better shape than my old Z was, and putting this motor in it.

I may go with an m6 car, since it won't be my daily driver, as I want to get better with stick, and it may be more fun for a non DD car.

 

I actually already have this. v6 5 speed. A 98.

it's in decent shape, it has a bent rocker on the passenger side that's caused some weatehr stripping problems along the bottom but nothing earth shattering.

It's pretty banged up interior wise but I'm already well versed with that as my 2000 was beat up inside too and I had it looking good before I got rid of it (like a moron.)

This will be useful because I won't have the anxiety of getting the car on the road, or the concerns of spending money just to keep it going.

I will need to do some reading on v6->v8 conversions though. It's already a 5 speed, I assume the slave and all for the clutch is the same between the T5 and the T56?

I'll need a different flexplate for the LQ4.

I'm going to swing by HPS this afternoon and we'll talk about what to do with the motor.

 

Congrats on the purchase, and nice color. Since you already have the lq4 at the machine shop, I agree on just finding something to throw it in as a fun weekend toy. You wouldn't get anywhere near what you've got into if you tried to sell that lq4. I'd go ahead and just sell that '98 for as much as you can get out of it and keep an eye out for a z28/trans am roller. There's a lot to switch over going to v8 from a v6, and I'd think you'd be better off with a simple swap. Nothing in the drivetrain will swap besides the rear end, which being a v6 is probably a peg leg anyways. With the amount of money you'll be dumping into that v6 to convert it to a v8, you'll be better off finding a roller that originally had an LS in it.

 

I got that 98 for $500.

A roller's not out of the question, its jst I already have this one.

finding a roller with a harness and pcm would make things much easier tho.

I'm in no hurry. 2-3k for one would be fine.

 

I talked to Chris this afternoon.

I think we're going to be putting the motor in this:



not sure yet. We talked about going with head bolts instead of studs, and not worrying so much about head gasket thickness. the power won't be as important in a car like this.

Theres'a an lsx conversion kit for 57s, chris has one in his shop right now, a nomad, that the owner is doing an LS1/60E in that seems to be doing good. About $1000 for the kit.

There's a lot of added cost and a lot of preparation for a car like this, so dyno numbers on this motor may still be a ways off.



That's the engine bay as it sits now. 283/2bbl, powerglide, leaking oil, powerglide vomits fluid after every drive, rear diff is leaking, pass. leafspring is broken at the shock mount, exhaust pipes are full of holes, generator no longer works properly, a taillight randomly broke on me recently when sitting in the garage, tires are dryrotting, front turn signal on the driver side has a loose connection, speedometer doesn't work, driver's rear door window regulator seems to be messed up.

it's not in the best of shape, and you can see why I'd want to do something with the motor. It was last rebuilt in the mid to late 80s.

 

My engine is back from the machine shop. It should be going back together soon.





It looks like a new motor.

 

great info definitely subscribed

 

Nice! I see you got the package with the 4-piston brakes and Pzero tires... enjoy!

I echo your frustration with A/C. Here in the south, a properly functioning A/C is almost more important than ANYTHING else (even in March), IMO.

 

New cam bearings are in. I guess the bearing boxes on top of the motor are the boxes for said bearings. New main and rod bearings coming soon.

My pitsons lifters and cam wait on the bench.

you can tell the block isn't "new" but its fresh and seems to be in good condition. I think I've got a pretty good build here in that it's not gonna fall apart on me.

 

I'm not "sold" on this idea..

but if I were to sell this motor.. what would I expect to get from it?

It has tons of cash in parts. I know I can't recoup the money, but I don't think a motor this strong is an ideal drop in for the belair. (and I have a new car that needs new toys..)

 

So.. much to my surprise the motor is DONE.

picked it up from HPS on friday.

Couple of issues, but they were small ones. They didn't paint the block or tap the hole like I asked, but that's of no concern. We painted it when we got it back home.

A few notes for those of you doing an lsx intake swap from a truck intake and taking this approach:

The truck intake manifold bolts do NOT fit the lsx intakes, they're actually almost identical to a valve cover bolt. So when buying your intake, find some bolts for it as well.

The truck crank pulley has a different spacing than the Fbody accessories, so if you're going to run Fbody accessories, or an Fbody water pump etc. You will need an Fbody crank pulley. I got an SLP underdrive pulley. It's cheap and it's not pressed together like the ones that fail in our cars. Also, it's a slight underdrive (10% I think?) which should give you a pony or 2 at the engine.

I'll have pics soon. I also neglected to mention to the guys at the shop that I had a brand new seal in the timing cover, so I have to re-buy that since it was destroyed when it was taken out. My bad. Live and learn I suppose.

For now the future of this motor is uncertain. With a TSP 228R cam however, and TSP stage 2.5 LS6 heads, HPS said there were no PTV issues on this setup, so that was good news, no flycutting was needed. I honestly didn't think there would be any required since the cam only has .588" lift.

Next steps to finish the motor:
get intake manifold bolts
mount water pump
get a new timing cover crank seal
install underdrive pulley


From there, the next steps like sourcing a fuel rail, TB, injectors and oil pan will depend on the motor's future destination.

I've mulled the idea of dropping it into the belair. I have reservations about this however, as this motor, as built, could have 450-490FWHP, and that's quite a chunk of change for a 50s family car to try to peg to the tires. This is a "hot rod" motor. It should go into a vehicle that would have fun with it, and save the "tooling around" car for a tooling around motor.

I have 3 vehicles however, and I'm not inclined to buy a fourth, as I can barely store the 3 I have. My poor 2010 GMC sits outside because the camaro and belair have to get the garage.

We'll see I suppose.

 

Finally a pic!



intake is just sitting on top. I don't have any bolts for it yet.

 

If anyone is curious, it's now living under the good of a 00 rcsb z71, had to replace the pickup tube and some more trash/dirt out of the pan after it started ticking about 20miles after the install, 50psi oil pressure hot idle now, killed my 4l60e after 100miles lol currently getting the 60e built about as far as possible.

 

That pan that was on it was NASTY man, I was never planning to use that or the original windage tray and pickup tube, so I never cleaned em.

got any idle clips? Bet that cam sounded good with your exhaust.

 

This was the most disappointing thread I've ever read. Google ruined my night.

 

Following along!