ok so ive got around 130,000 miles on my ls1 z28 (it had that many when i got it), and the origional owner used it as a daily driver to commute to and from work. o almost all of the miles were from the highway. the car was never abused and the fluids were changed regurally. i take verry good care of my baby just like he did. sooo..... my question is, should i be worried about my engine at all. if ot now, when should i start considering a rebuld? is it ok to do a H/C or FI setup w/o worrying about it? any help is greatly appreciated.

 

Im about 5k from that mark and i asked the same questions, get a compression test done and go from there, as long as its taken care of you should be good, just keep some extra money around just in case, if i were you i'd go with the H/C setup just because you'll be replacing some core parts, minus the block, and while your in there you could replace as much as you can, just keep the prices at the pump in mind if its your daily driver. but FI would work too, depending who you go with, it would be better for daily driving due to the blower not kicking in till about 3k, so it would pretty much be stock below that, and a beast after. but in the end its your car so have at it.

 

so if i keep taking care of it the way i am currently, how many miles can i expect, or does it very?

 

a buddy of mine turned 250k about a month ago......

he takes care of his car...does regular maintanence...and replaced the factory springs with new ones at 150k for safe measure.....

the LS1 will probably run forever if you really take care of it

 

I think carbon buildup is an LS1's worst enemy with the way these engines eat oil. I pulled my heads at 30,000 miles and was surprised how much there was in there. So I ported the heads, sand blasted the carbon out, and put it back together.

 

sick, thas what i want to hear. what things in the motor are the weakest and should be replaced sooner to avoid complications later. i'm planning on upgrading the valvtrain within the next few years, but i need to know what else i need to look out for. thanks for all your help guys.

 

The valves have a pretty narrow margin, so the exhaust valves can get pitted pretty easy. I think you should pull the heads, decarbonize the chambers and pistons, lap the valves, and replace/upgrade the springs. Or if you want to go the high dollar route, just pick up a set of ported heads.

 

1)where would i get a compression test, and how is it done?
2)what do you mean by decarbonization?
3)what is laping the valves?
4)are ported heads cali leagal?

 

GM engineers have stated that the LS1 was developed with a 300,000 mile engine life as a goal. If your engine is running fine, don't worry about it.

 

there's a guy on ls1.com with 126k miles with a d1sc procharger runnin 15psi and 550rwhp on a stock motor, so i'd say you're fine as long as the motor was taken care of and still is.

 

Seafoam it if you are really worried. That should get out most of the carbon.

As long as its stock or just bolt on, that car should run as long as you let it and dont rag on it too much.

 

You can by a compression test gauge from NAPA auto parts. You screw it in in place of the spark plug for each cylinder, then crank the engine with the injector fuse pulled. The cylinders should all be within 10% of each other.

LS1's are known for using a lot of oil, so you can have a lot of carbon deposits building up in the combustion chambers and on top of the pistons. If the carbon isn't removed, the compression ratio will go through the roof and cause engine damage. If yours doesn't use oil, don't worry about it. Laping the valves is a process where you use a special abrasive compound to spin the valve against it's seat to resurface it. The exhaust valves especially benefit from this, since they get pitted over time and eventually start leaking. My valves had significant pitting with only 30,000 miles on the engine. I run an air fuel ratio of 12.7, with is fairly conservative. Ported heads won't significantly change emissions, so you can pass with then in Califonia no problem. Not sure if they are technically legal, but it would be impossible for them to tell you have them.