SpennyBenny

Purchased my Z28 about 6 months ago from amazing people who took great care of the care. It was daily driven being commuted in heavily for 8 years, so of the high mileage 90% or more is freeway. It runs amazing every day I fire her up, but I want to feel reassured I can modify without blowing anything up.

Christmas is coming up and I'm dying to buy some stuff for the car, and I've been looking into SLP Bilsteins, BBK Longtubes, possibly some LS6 heads, etc, but I can't afford to have this thing blow up on me.

Short of buying a new motor, I need advice on anything I could do to either prolong the motor to make it more durable or allow safety in modifying it.

so for about $1k bucks I have, what am I to do to refresh my motor or has anyone safely modified there's at this point and have any advice? And are longtubes/heads simply a no-no at this point? thanks in advance.

02sslayer

iTrader: (4)

if i were you i would make plans to rebuild the motor or get a new (bigger) motor soon. but for now go with headers, exhaust, intake, suspension. can you see yourself goin with more cubes down the road? if so go with 1 7/8 headers, if not got a set of 1 3/4 long tubes. and get a good exhaust like magnaflow or slp loudmouth. you could also get a thermostat, tb bypass. basically, full bolt ons should be perfectly safe. just dont mess with the internals unless you plan to throw a new rotating assembly in.

hope that helps. good luck with your Z

SpennyBenny

So your thinking I'd still be safe to do all the essential bolt-ons with this kind of mileage? The motor is solid, but I am very unfamiliar about modifying high mileage vehicles. If modifying it wasn't an option, is there anything I can do under $1k to "refurbish" the car in a sense, without rebuilding or buying a new one and swapping it? Keep in mind in in cali, so I'm not sure how my local smog shop would react if I rolled up with a ls2 or something lol.

ULTIMATEORANGESS

iTrader: (4)

if its fine id leave it alone and save up for a stroker or ls2.

02sslayer

iTrader: (4)

ya thats what i would be doin too. it would be fine to do the bolt ons but but i wouldnt bother with it.

desertLS1

iTrader: (8)

You can find an LS1 long block with under 70k on eBay or craigslist for around 1k.

Wesmanw02

iTrader: (4)

Its definitely safe to do bolt ons and other mods to the motor as long as it was well taken care of. Mileage matters much less than maintenance, if the previous owner took care of the car and used synthetic oil and premium fuel then it should be fine for another 175K.

Don't worry about refurbishing the engine yet, if it runs well and doesn't burn oil or anything, then its good to go.

garygnu

I would do a leak down or compression test.consider new springs and seals ,lifters ,push rods,trunnion bearings,oil pump,timing chain.look at a ls6 cam or cam that will pass a smog test.you need a cam that will will work with stock exhaust manifolds or legal shorty headers. schwanke engines sells ls1 short blocks for $1500.or as mentioned above save up for a good used ls1 short block ,find some low mileage 241s for $100 .

SpennyBenny

Yeah I've got 4 boxes full of dealership servicing receipts, no leaks, doesn't burn any oil. I just hate that I have all this power but I am scared to get on her. My right foot hasn't had a date with the pedal in months.

Even if I found a block for 1k I'm not quite sure if I'm ready to take on an engine swap just yet and wouldn't be able to afford letting someone else do it. Looks like ill give her a good run through (plugs/fluids) and bolt up some LTs for Xmas. The lift will make it a piece of cake

My next question is, would I be stupid not to give it a good tune after the LT's? I've seen people say its not necessary, but their cars aren't typically as high up there as mine from what I've seen.

What I'm getting from all this is that there needs to be a section for high mileage only cars haha.

sorry about all the questions and for the FRAT i just typed out, you guys are always a big help.

SpennyBenny

This is the best option I am sure, but I am a full time college student that works just enough to pay everything off and have like 20 bucks on the weekends to go out. I am lucky to even have a Camaro really.