Hey guys,

I just got done tearing down my ls1 to a bare block (mostly) and inspecting everything. Everything looked great, the cylinder walls still showed their factory crosshatch, the crank journals were nice and smooth with no scoring or scuffs, pistons looked good minus normal carbon buildup. Oil looked clean, no major particles or debris, the magnetic plug was relatively clean.

Now, the bad. The lower main bearings have a little pitting, nothing major, generally it seems to be 1 small spot per bearing. If I trace my fingernail across it I can barely feel it, but it is there. None of this seems to have transferred over to the crankshaft main journals. With the rod journals, there is an obvious variance between where the rod bearings were on the journal and not. I'm fairly certain that with a polishing that would go away.

I have yet to be able to remove the cam bearings as I don't have a tool to do so yet, but a quick inspection showed that their surfaces all looked fine, same as the camshaft.

With the rebuild, I planned on replacing all the bearings, piston rings, head, exhaust, front/rear cover, and intake manifold gaskets. Looked like the rear seal was possibly leaking as well, so I was going to change that out, and the front as well for insurance sake. New crank and head bolts, and upgrading the timing chain to LS2 and lifters to LS7, and replacing the oil pump, water pump, and push rods.

So, my questions.

First off, I was planning on replacing all the bearings, but should I be worried about the pitting that I noted on the lower main bearings?

Second, I planned on doing a hone to the cylinder walls to get rid of the glaze, but assuming that everything is still in spec, do I need to get the rotating assembly balanced?

Third, how much would I be looking at, on average, for getting the block cleaned and the cylinders honed? Further, how much would I be looking at, on average, to getting the head cleaned and inspected (valves still in, but rockers/push rods removed)? I got an estimate for cleaning, replacing bearings with clevite bearings, rings, a honing, and balancing, for $1500, which is all well and good, but in the sake of saving money and learning, I wanted to do everything outside of the cleaning / honing myself, and even with those I am seriously considering just spraying it all down with some eagle 1 mag wheel cleaning and going to town with a wire brush then using a ball hone.

And, I guess, lastly, does my general plan seem good and/or am I missing anything? This is my first step into the domestic world, and my first steps into engine rebuilding, so I've been researching everything I can find, reading, researching, rinse, repeat.

Thanks guys

 

Your rebuild looks good to me. I would have the crank polished for the new bearings and will take care of any of the small pitting your talking about. Hone the block and install new cam bearings. The quote of $1500 is WAY over priced unless that includes the short block assembly. If they are going to hand you back all those parts and you have to assemle the engine thats about double waht you should pay.

As far as heads go, do you know what the casting # is ? Are you looking for any Port/Polish work , milling ect ?

 

Thanks for the response, conan.

That quote did include short block assembly, but I wasn't really aiming to have the short block assembled, as I wanted to be able to do it myself. Again, the basis of saving money and learning.

I want to say that they are 241 heads. I wasn't really looking for any porting / polishing, and only milling if the deck had any warpage.

I did want to ask, is there some tool that would be recommended for the cam bearing removal / reinstall? Preferably a DIY or rental solution would be best, I'm not looking to shell out big bucks for something that I would only use once or twice.

 

http://webrodder.com/article/align-honing-principles-23
http://webrodder.com/article/in-the-...s-in-your-shop

browse thru their engine tech articles: http://webrodder.com/articles?page=3&category=9

http://www.carcraft.com/howto/ccrp_0...ine_balancing/

 

Thanks for that. That honing process is far more in depth than I was looking to do, only really intending to deglaze the cylinder walls. Given that everything looks good, do I need to have the whole block honed?

 

I'd just leave the cam bearings if the don't show any signs of wear, the only time I've heard of a cam bearing failure is when they are replaced and improperly installed. I would also consider installing ARP rod bolts and having the rods resized as they are one of the weakest parts in the bottom end.

 

Even with the bearings having (as far as I know) 160k on them? I've never heard about the rod resizing, I'll look into it. Thanks for the feedback.