My dad has an LS1 from a 2000 Camaro with 12,000 miles on it that he's willing to sell to me to put in my 1953 Chevy truck. It's been sitting for about 6 years. What is the proper procedure to bring it back to life?

 

If it were mine I would do a tear down and inspection, to ensure no rust in the cylinders or any other signs of problems that could potentially rear their head when you try to start a motor that has sat that long.

 

I'd probiably just pop a head and see what you got. If the motor was free (you could turn it over) and if it looks good on that one side and it definately ran before being parked, I would throw a set of front/rear/lifter valley/pan gaskets in it along with front and rear main seals and run it. You could pop a main cap and see what it looks like, but if the cylinders look OK, I would have no reason to suspect the mains/rods dried up. If anything dries up first while sitting it's the cylinder walls. Sitting that long would more than likely dry rot the seals, and they are cheap enough why not.

You probiably will also have alot of build up in the various galleys just from the motor sitting. You will probiably notice some buildup in the bottom of the pan from where some leftover oil (I assume it was drained prior to storage) congealed on the bottom of the pan. So pulling the pan is a must just to get the crud off the bottom so it doesn't get sucked up into the pickup. If I was you I would definately once you got it going again change the oil a couple of times within the first couple of hundred miles. Perhaps a motor flush product would help clean it up, but I have no real experience with that stuff so can't say for sure that they work or would be a good idea here.

Also, being it is a 2000 I would ask if it was still stock. If so, I would probiably just throw a pump on it to be safe. Some of those original runs of factory pumps were known to fail with no warning. Not sure if yours is the updated design or not. Don't mean to scare you because it wasn't a super common thing to occur, but it did happen from time to time. So if it's original and it was mine, I would replace it just to be sure.

 

i would replace the oil pump, all the gaskets and water-pump (you might still have the old design with the rivets on the back) at the least. I agree with Aaron about tearing it down and checking anything and everything!