BB's95Z28

Hi everybody,

Some 18 months after figuring out that my #7 cylinder was filling up with antifreeze from a blown head gasket, I am finally at a point were I can start to buy the parts necessary to fix my Camaro. Hey, give me a break, I have kids and a mortgage.

She's a 95 with 66K on the odometer.

Existing Mods: LT Headers, Cold Air Intake, Custom exhaust.

First, this thing ran flawlessly before I started having any issues. No oil burn, everything works. Just a well kept Camaro that decided to **** the head gasket bed.

Things that I want or know that I need:

• CC503 Cam
• Water pump
• Complete gasket kit (Go with GM or Felpro?)
• Poly Motor Mounts
• Timing Chain

Here is where my uneducated self gets into trouble

• Where can I find a complete list of what parts I need for the head rebuild?
• Should I go ahead and replace the oil pump?

Positive I am forgetting other things. I am currently shopping around for a mechanic in the Kansas City area that will take on a LT1 build. While I do that I am putting together my shopping list so that I can buy everything and then dump it into their lap and wish them luck.

Go easy on me guys. I appreciate the help this forum provides.

z28jimmy

iTrader: (1)

What is your budget and what is the car going to be used for?

BB's95Z28

Good questions. Thanks for the reply,

I've got a budget of $3000-3500 keeping in mind that a good chunk of that will be labor.

I have a daily driver so this will be an occasional drive car. Perhaps 3000-5000 miles a year.

96lt1m6

iTrader: (31)

It's 383 time

96lt1m6

iTrader: (31)

Well, when the motor comes out the entire short block needs to be inspected To see what can be saved.

Heatmaker

Some reading material for you https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/how...eId=PLGoP75008

If you're interested in learning and really knowing what to put together for your build LT1 build books are a great place to start before you open your wallet. Like 96lt1m6 said you're going to need to inspect the motor to see what can and can't be reused. When I rebuild engines to stock specs I reuse the crank and rods after having them cleaned up and freshened but replace the pistons with OEM or better. Heads it depends if you want to reuse the stock heads if your valves are bad then you might need some new ones but usually those can be cleaned up too. You just have to match the valve springs to your cams lift specs but all this depends on what route you want to go and how far or close to stock you want to get.

bufmatmuslepants

iTrader: (3)

The biggest question which will impact your path here is if the short block is ok. If the cylinder wall of #7 got boogered up, you'll need to do 0.030 over to clean it up and that will require the cost of the machine work to the block, new pistons, balance the rotating assembly, and a bunch of other machine work and assembly that will eat up around $2000 very fast, just to get you a shortblock. If that's the case, finding another running motor as a starting point may be cheaper. It doesn't sound like you are shooting for the moon on this build, so I would go the craigslist shortblock route if your cylinder walls are bad.

If the block is still good, and whole bottom end is still fine, your options are open with a $3500 budget.

Things that eat up cost regardless:
7/16 ARP rocker studs
7/16 non self aligning (NSA) full roller rockers, either comp pro mags or ultra pro mags, crower, Crane Gold, scorpion, or other non-Chinese rockers. New $250-350, used $75-150.
Hardened pushrods
Guideplates
Valvesprings
0.026 gaskets
Clutch or stall if it's an m6 or a4
Shifter if it's an m6
Tune

Option 1:
Leave the shortblock untouched, and limit the new motor to a max of 6500 rpm, sizing your head and cam work with that limit in mind. Cc503 is a good off the shelf, easy to get a mail order tune for it. Since you are having someone else do the work, that's going to eat a ton of your money. If you were doing it yourself I'd say LE1 heads and cam instead. But at a minimum, the valvetrain parts, cc503, 0.026 gaskets.

Option 2:
Have a shop pull the shortblock apart, resize the rods for ARP bolts, put it back together, new bearings, clean up the block, and you would have a bottom end stable to 7000 rpm. Then with whatever is left get a good foundation valvetrain with the 7/16 parts and a cam, and do heads later.

moehorsepower

iTrader: (3)

As said, the first thing that needs to be done is have the whole motor inspected, basically all of the stock parts can be reused for this build, if you are on a tight budget then use the $ for other performance enhancing parts, (converter, or clutch, gears )pistons can be reused if in good shape, just have them clean them up, you might just need a hone job for the cylinders, but add new rings, rods are good but yes get them resized with ARP, the crank is stronger than most will acknowledge, I ran a stock crank with 648 RWHP with no issues. Either parts nowadays are really cheap or people are just afraid to use them, back in the day we used cheap silvolite cast pistons, stock rods, stock crank, cams in the 244 duration but did get them balanced and would run them up to 6500 + rpm all day long, cars would be in the low 12's high 11's.
Hell my friend would run his 69 Z28 up to 8000 RPM! but yes eventually the rod wanted to look outside. dont get caught up on you need a forged crank, you need H beam rods ect, main thing is get a reputable machine shop and ask questions...A lot of people on this site will help you out...