Hello.
I am new here. I found this forum searching for answers. My 2018 Chevy Silverado 1500 5.3 LT L83 engine had a failed AFM lifter.and destroyed my cam . I decided to do a full rebuild to refresh the engine. This is my first LS/LT build but I have built numerous vintage engines.

I have a couple questions. I hope someone can help Please.

1. I am trying to sort out the direction the dimple on the crank rods align. Do the dimples all align facing backwards towards the rear of the engine, or going forwards towards the front of the engine. I know the pistons go on the Left Bank or driver side and the right Bank passenger side based on the L& R stamp on piston. But I can not connect them to the crank rod until I know which way that dimples face.

2. Second I got all new GM rings for the pistons and I have a question the dark top ring has a little white o on one side, is that mark to say that is the top?

3. Finally on the mains the inner and outer. The service manual says tighten 15 ft pounds and then do 110 degrees on the inner and 80 something on the outer following the sequence but from what I heard from another source of i reuse the bolts I can do 50 ft. lbs on both inner and outer in sequence is this true? The reason it is since they're already been stretched you can't set it back to what the service manual says unless they're new.

Thank you if you read
and a bigger thank you if you reply

I'm going to post this also over in the LT section cuz I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be posting it here or there.

 

Your in the right spot here in Gen5.
1. Rods DO NOT matter. The dimple is simply a identification mark…think GM pink rods from the 80’s…had a pink paint mark on them for identification. The dimple can face either way, because the crank doesn’t have a radius on the journal shoulder. It’s good practice to orient them all the same direction…you know this since you’ve built engines before, but it doesn’t matter in the Gen3/4/5 engines.
2. Any identification mark on a ring set typically means up. I’d face that mark upward.
3. With a used set of main bolts, I’d follow the OEM procedure of first pass : Inner - 15ft/lbs, outer - 15, sides - 22 ft/lbs. 2nd pass: Inner - 110 degrees, outer - 80 degrees,…I usually do 47-48 ft lbs on the rod bolts however, and skip the angle deal. I’ve reverse figured the rod bolt torque with my digital wrench, and it was 47.8ish ft lbs.
Welcome to LS1Tech!!

 

Thank you for the response. Much appreciated.
A couple of follow up questions
Here are both sides of cyl. 1 and 2 rods. You can see the cut is different and there seems to be a slightly larger chamfer on side without the dimple.
So these can be flipped any direction?

On the ring with the o mark on one side, the opposite side has a chamfer.

Ah so 50 is correct, thanks. Saves bucks on a new set of cap bolts

Thank you for you time
​​​

 

Yessir. You can mock it up yourself and see that it makes no difference which way they face. The rod journal on the OEM crank does not have a radius, like an aftermarket crank, so the chamfer
isnt needed anyway. If your like me, you’ll do your due diligence and mock everything up before you listen to a guy on the web anyway. 😜