Well, here is my first project for an LS swap.





came out of an Isuzu NPR, their core process is very strict. must look as delivered, and must rotate 360 degrees. customer didn't want to pay to ship it back or for us to reassemble, so he ate the core and the shipping, and I got a motor.

I don't know why it was removed, nor why they decided to completely disassemble it.

Gotta find a machine shop, gonna have the block, crank, pistons rods, and caps checked. it'll be slow, and I'll be trying to use mostly GM parts.

 

picked up some new "office" reading materials.



got a line on a local machine shop that comes highly recommended from a few of our techs at work. gonna contact them next week. gonna go through the crate this weekend and clean out everything I'm not gonna need. lifters, rockers, push rods, and more bolts than I know what they're for.

 

It's like a Grateful Dead Miracle ticket

what is it going into?

 

I don't know yet. Originally I was thinking LS swap something, maybe a 3rd gen or a Monza, but I'm not sure if I have the patience for the expense of that project. Now I'm thinking buy something with an LS that's blown up. Still undecided, guess I'll see when car shopping time comes.

 

Are there and good books out there in building LS based engines? I have a pdf for one, but it seems outdated as they only talk about cathedral port heads, and don't mention rectangle port heads.

 

Yes. In fact, I have one that I picked up at Barnes and Nobles. CarTech "How to Rebuild GM LS-Series Engines" by Chris Werner who was one of lead contributor to GMHTP. Very helpful and fully illustrated, from teardown to final assembly.

 

Thanks BOLO, I'll look into that one. I have a pdf for "Building the Chevy LS Engine, Rebuilding and Performance Modifications" by Mike Mavrigian. However I think it's a bit dated as it doesn't mention rectangle port heads. Though I'm sure the machining section would be the same.

 

So, it seems I come asking a question that may be, dumb. After googling for hours, in have yet to find an answer for my query. Is it possible to put an intake on the motor that flows too much?

Im gonna need an intake and wondered if it's possible to get an intake that's basically too big for my combo, or is it much like a vacuum secondary carb in that the engine is only going to suck as much air as it needs to? Or would going with too much flow going to hurt performance?

 

this build is getting more promising. I finally was able tongetnthe cratencleaned out and the block properly situated inside, removed all of the pieces, and was able to give it a good inspection.

Cam lobes look good and without pitting or excessive wear, the lifters looked much the same and the rollers spun freely. One cam bearing missing, the rest look fine. I assume they drug it out during a hastey disassembly.



The crank journals looked good also.













And the main caps and block side don't look pounded. I could only find one main bearing half and it looks good to me. Also only 4 full rod bearing sets. I either missed them in another box or they weren't packed in the crate when shipped.







The rod journals look good as well. Not a great picture.




Not sure it's going to show very well but the bores look good with no pitting or scratches. Still look to have the cross hatching from the factory hone.



The heads I think might be the reason for pulling the engine. Looks like a bent valve to me.



Both heads.



Looking at the pistons I can't see any valve contact, and from the pictures of the heads I'm sure most would agree.

I am gonna take abshot in the dark that it began running like poo, and after a compression test, they pulled the motor for a rebuild, decided to replace it, not knowing it was just a bent valve and rebuilding the heads would have fixed it.

If you'd like better pics of anything (except the bottom of the block) let me know and I'll snap a few. Perhaps some more experienced members may see something that I'm not, and can help me out.

It's looking like there shouldn't be a problem with sending this block to the machine shop and it be fine.

I'm thinking this could be a nice long-term street engine.

Future plans, billet main caps, ARP main studs, rod bolts, and head studs. Forged 4.00 crank, .050 over bore, forged rods and pistons. Custom cam, hand port and polish of the heads, good intake, custom long tube hearders (being that I have no clue what its going in yet), and custom exhaust.

I'd like to see between 550-650hp all motor, with the ability to hit it with a lot of nitrous.

 

Well, looking at this picture, I may have missed this giant hole that quite possibly shouldn't be there? Upper part of the pic circled in red.




Please tell me that's supposed to be there and this build didnt just fall flat on its face?

 

Further Google image searching yields positive results. I kept thinking that there was no reason something should have punched a hole in the block, so I started looking at every picture I could find of LSx blocks. Seems to be in a many of the iron blocks. For oil drain, or possibly crankcase venting? Not certain. If I'm wrong please correct me.

 

yes thats normal

 

Thanks for the validation on that. It just looks so mangled and nasty. Plus I've never been in a LS motor before. Old school 350 and I'm back in my play ground. This LS stuff is just new to me. So I was concerned. That puts me back ahead of the 8 ball on this project.

 

Well went and looked, got more pictures, they just vent/ oil drain holes. There's two. Crisis averted. They just look so janky from the bottom. May have to takes a die grinder and some sand paper to em to clean em up a bit.

 

like i mentioned, thats normal. heh. i wouldnt recommend modifying the block, especially with a die grinder; getting all those tiny shavings all over your oil galleys and such is not a great idea IMO.

 

Any grinding would be in the essence of deburing, and smoothing the block for painting, and removal of stress risers. While I'm not sure of the most common places that LS based iron blocks are known to crack in any. This is going into a daily driven (albeit unknown at this time) vehicle. So longevity is key.

 

Possible candidate for a twin turbo setup.



Scored free. Needs a rebuild, if it wont work, it'll make a cool gas turbine engine for a go kart.

 

I'm quickly developing a love/hate relationship with this forum. I love how much information is here, and how much I am learning. I hate that I didn't know this much before, and that as of yet, I dint know how some relates to what I want to do with this engine.