Some background info on this motor : 98 LS1 with approx 171k miles before it was pulled. Was able to hear it run at idle before buying it. Didn't smoke / rattle / click or anything. Rear of the camaro was too damaged to drive so I was unable to drive it. Was not able to do a compression test or test the oil pressure like I wanted to before the motor was pulled. Motor sat for 10 months and is now slow to turn over for about 30 degrees of the crank rotation.

Pictures with questions for each. Also a few more questions at the bottom.





How the bottom of some of the cylinders look, very mild surface rust. Crank slows way down when the skirt starts to come in contact with it. Only did 1 full rotation before I realized this was the problem making it bind. How would you get rid of this?





Getting off the origional headgaskets has been a nightmare. Took me approx 3 hours to get one side to this condition. I've been using a gasket solvent with a soft aluminum friendly scraper, plastic razor blades, scotch-brite pads, good music and beer to stay sane. The block feels incredibly smooth in some places, but as pictured (below this piston) still isn't clean enough right? Any suggestions how to speed this up appreciated.






The remains of the cross hatching. Still visible but.... I don't know how good it still is. There's absolutely no odd wear on the cylinder walls. I'm really torn here. Do I remove the pistons and do a quick deglase by myself? Do I leave it as is? If it needs to be done I'll be putting in new rings and main / rod bearings.

If its the only good way to get rid of that rust what hone do I need to use? BrushReasearch.com was suggested to me but there are hone options that are over my head. What would be the best material stone to use for a quick deglase on a very close to stock bore ls1?



I've been AS CLEAN as possible. Everything was taped off / blocked / covered. There's still bits of scotch-brite pad and graphite gasket everywhere.... How the heck do I get this stuff out? I've vacuumed and cleaned as much as I can, I'm afraid these small chunks of debris are going to trash my motor.

list of stuff I've upgraded
-melling oil pump
-ls2 chain
-new gaskets everywhere
-gm mls headgaskets / arp head bolts
-ls6 valley cover / pcv conversion
-comp cams trunion upgrade

I've been looking to replace the lifters and trays because why not @ 171k. Really leaning hard toward the morel 5315's so when I cam / head swap it next year ( 228r or similar and some 799 heads that I have ) I have a decent set of lifters. Can I use my origional pushrods with these as they are a "drop in replacement"?

Thanks for any info / help you can provide!

 

Did some more looking. Looks like a ball hone from brushresearch.com with a 105mm bore is available. What material is the best for a 98 ls1 sleeve? I'm guessing id want to use one of the higher grit (400+) for a quick deglase right? Lots of views still need help!


Thanks!

 

Took the crank out, journals are screwed. crank was still turning slow with no rods / pistons in the block. Also the cam bearings look like garbage





The journals have grooves that I can feel with my finger nails. Not sure if this can even be polished out.

This is the worst of the crank bearings. #3.



This is the cam bearing under #3. I don't know how this motor didnt sound like it was ready to explode.




For as bad as the cam bearings look the cam doesnt look that bad. This is the worst of the cam journals...



This is before / after pictures of the rear most cam bearing. Initially when I pull the cam out I wanted to walk away from this motor... but after some real simple clean up, visually, the bearings don't look awful. I don't trust the surface to be good enough though.





I guess my plan is now to find a local machine shop and see if the crank can be salvaged and if they are competent enough with gen III GM engines to put in cam bearings. Pretty upset that this motor is in such bad shape.

Anyone have any kind of suggestions.... lots of views still no help

 

guess no one knows or has had experience with cam bearings and polishing cranks.....?

 

I'd hand it to a good machine shop and have them hone to get consistency and cross hatch. Have them also install new cam bearings unless you have the tool. The crank can be cleaned up and measured for proper sized bearings by the machine shop too.

 

The crank can be polished and/or turned. All bearings easily replaced by machine shop. If you are tearing engine apart, maybe go 5 over and some never pistons too?

Comp cams aftermarket lifters use stock pushrods. not sure about the ones you mentioned.

That engine can be good as new again. Oh, I would have then deck the block just a hair to clean it up too.