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Hey everyone, I’m very new to this and this is my first time ever joining a automotive form so any advice would be greatly appreciated.🙂
So here is my question, I’m 19 and I really wanted to do a LS swap, Last week I was looking for a 5.3 so I could do my first LS swap,
I always wanted to do one. So as I was looking for a 5.3 I found a long block 4.8 on letgo for 200 and I talked to the guy said I wanted to look at it and so we met up and he dropped the price to 150, I Only had bills so he got 160. One other thing that I realized was that some water was in the heads but the valves were closed so I thought so I didn’t think anything of it. Monday I took the motor apart and water was all in the cylinders, not just one or two but all of them had very bad rust. So I got some CLR the next day and let it sit to try and loosen up the pistons and that did not work. I had to unbolt the pistons from the crank and chisel the pistons out one by one. After that I took a wire wheel to it and got almost all the rust out but I had a lot of pitting especially were the water was. I talked to a Machine Shop that had good reviews and he said that he would have to over bore it until the Pitting is gone and with that it would be $325 the way he said it should like a rough estimate so it might be more. So with that should I let him bore it until the pitting is gone and end up with a weird displacement engine, or do you think I can bore it to a 5.7 and be able to get parts more easily.
I really want to still use the block and I was going to go all out for this engine anyway, but I still want to spend money smart. So what do y’all think 😶.
These last two are after I used PB Blaster and then CLR. Topped it off with a wire wheel and what you see is what you get. All of the cylinders had damage but this one is one of the worst.
Last edited by Dodge Mayham; Feb 15, 2020 at 09:37 AM.
You've got rust eating away at the cylinder walls from both sides. The water jacket and the bore.
Learn from this mistake and move on. If the block is worth anything as I'm sure someone will come on here and argue that it is, then someone will buy it and it'll be their problem. Don't let it be your problem because someone on the internet says it's fine.
Don't get me wrong, I've cleaned up my share of rusted blocks. But that one there, you're better off dumping it on the side of the road somewhere.
Have you looked at junkyards? Theres a yard around me that I got a Gen 4 from for $120, with 799 heads.
There are also UPAP and LKQ u pull it yards where you can take an engine out and tear it down to the bare block to check everything (not that someone would) then it's $75 for a short block, $325 for the whole thing. Or leave it sitting in a pile (as I have seen)
All man that is what I was afraid of but I new in the back of my head that this might not work out. Thank you everyone for you response I really appreciate, this was a good learning experience I guess. Thank you for you honesty.
I didn’t want to go to a pull a part but it looks like that is what I’m going to have to do, that’s a lot better risk that I will take then ever buy a engine on the internet aging.
pull- a- part usual has good prices in Augusta.
An inexpensive lesson for sure and nobody likes getting burned. Next time put a ratchet on the harmonic balancer bolt and make sure the engine will turn over without binding on you. Removing the spark plugs will make turning the engine over easier too as you won't be building compression and also give you a chance to inspect the plug for any telling signs..
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4.3 Bore Pitting Help Please!!! 
