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I just got my 5.3 Gen IV block back from the machine shop after waiting 3 months!
Got it .020 over, new deck surface, and align honed my mains, balanced my rotating assembly because I got all new forged 3.80 Mahle Pistons / Rings, and H-beam rods.
I was installing the #6 piston and boom one of the oil retaining rings got caught up on the wall and bent up, now I have a decent scratch in the cylinder wall.
My mind is all over in trying to figure out what to do, so I really wanted to reach out and see if anyone had any input / advice.
1.) Is it possible to replace just one sleeve in these blocks?
2.) I can maybe get a used 5.3 block and have the machine shop spec it to my current block? That way I can keep my piston size
3.) Bore it out even more. But the problem with that is I can't really find any decent pistons 3.81 or 3.82.
4.) Any other ideas?
It’s probably not that deep. The machine shop can probably hone it a little more on that one hole withot making the piston to wall clearance too loose. If it ends up being too loose, then you can probably have the skirts of the pistons you have coated to make up the excess clearance, usually up to about .002”.
Then you might want to look into buying a tapered ring compressor.
I would have the machine shop resleave it and bore it out to your specs.
No,
Don't listen to this. KCS pretty much covered it. You'll likely be just fine I'm guessing. And the scratch is not way down there which helps a lot.
I,d hone that just to smooth edges out and run it like it is. That's not going to amount to any real loss. For sure buy a better ring compressor like mentioned above. Did you check the finished bores for taper?
If you have to go to larger pistons go to stock LS1/3.898(or 3.903) size pistons, that way you get more cubes and save a little cash, typically standard size are cheaper than custom size
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Just got my block back and ... scratch 
