I just got off the phone with the engine builder. He is going to come up with some numbers to rebuild the bottom end including hot tanking the block. He said he'd even swing by the house and pick it up. Super nice guy! He made a good point that I've already got so many new parts, might as well go through the rest.

I called Hawks today and they said they have several long blocks available with 140-150k miles for $700. We would find one that came in running and will have a video of it running. Plus we can pull the vin and run it through carfax and see what we see.

What I like about this is then I can sell my block for whatever I can get for it. $2-300? That means it's only costing me $400-500 for a "new" bottom end. I could prick it up Thursday and get started putting everything together this weekend.

Or I get what I have rebuilt. It'd be brand new. But I'm guessing it'll cost at the very least double and I'm at the mercy of the engine builders timeline with Christmas coming up.

What do you guys think?

I'd get a quote from the builder for the machine work. $300 for a 150k "timebomb" is likely cheap enough to know that you'll just toss it in the trash when it blows up. It may run quite a while. If you can get everything refreshed and properly rebuilt for around a grand or so, I'd still go that route. Particularly if you're putting heads and a cam in it. Otherwise, throw the inexpensive engine in it and run that while you rebuild the engine you just pulled out. Or some combination of the above.

As far as the timeline, how soon do you plan to drive it? I'm guessing it's mostly going to be put away for the winter. If so, I can't imagine it being a huge rush to get it done. But that's up to you.

Well one thing is I don't know how long my dad will hang onto the car. He may want to sell it in a year, or never. He won't know until he starts driving it. And it's only a mild cam with stock heads. They're just being freshened up. I'm keeping the stock manifolds and intake, so I don't expect much more than 350 rwhp. The other thing is my dad is going to baby it. He doesn't drive like I do.

I'm ready for this car to be done. He wants to start driving it and I want my garage back. But I don't want to cut corners either. Btw, I haven't even winterized the boat yet. Very mild winters down here, so he could be driving it through the winter. I really would like to have it done next month.

I'll see what the builder says.

Ah, I guess you're a little farther south than I realized. In that case, grabbing a 150k take out might be worth it. I thought you were doing ported heads, so I was factoring in the cost factor of having the engine let go and destroy them.

In that case, get a quote and timeline from the engine builder (just so you know) and make the call from there. A solid used engine could be a decent plan. I thought he was planning to keep this car for a while, I didn't realize that wasn't set in stone.

Price both and check the time for each. If you can truly do the used engine for $300-400, it might be a good plan if he's not sure if he's keeping it.

Decision is made. I'm going to pick up a used short block. Engine builder is interesred in buying mine. Any idea what I should ask?

Considering the lifter bits floating around in it and all that, I'd be happy if I could get $500 for it. I suspect he's going to offer less ($300-ish). In sales there was a saying "you can always ask" (for a discount, for a price, etc). Tell him you'd like $550 and take what he offers (assuming it is $250 or more). He probably buys cores for "cheap" to rebuild, so I have no idea what he's paying or what might be "reasonable" to him. But you can always ask.... (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

I'm going to jump in the truck and drive the 2 hrs to Hawks tomorrow morning and buy a used short block.

I'll let you guys know how it goes.

Btw, isn't it kinda sad that a complete relatively low mileage LT1 is worth about the same as an LS1 short block that needs to be rebuilt?

Note to self: drain oil before attempting to separate tranny from engine


(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/Steve91T/Camaro/B2CA5F64-9148-423E-A10C-1C621460978A.jpg)

Where did it leak from?

The front cover is off. When I pulled the tranny the whole thing tipped forward.

Look what I did today! They were great to deal with.

(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/Steve91T/Camaro/D204C330-17E0-4280-8727-6A0229AF3396.jpg)

That's a 14,000 lb crankshaft out of some monster generator.

(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/Steve91T/Camaro/9A668C9C-D3B8-4AB6-9204-C4A788FA292B.jpg)

And one of its eight rod and pistons.

(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/Steve91T/Camaro/8E800200-2687-4F9E-A9D7-21DC6992090B.jpg)


Here's what they gave me for $700. A 155k mile short block. It's out of a running and driving 2000 Camaro. The owner wanted a built iron block. Kinda nice to know it wasn't an unknown wrecked car.
(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/Steve91T/Camaro/CD878FED-9757-49BF-BEC9-C6A88FE25765.jpg)

(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/Steve91T/Camaro/DCA7A112-7C37-4DE2-9EBA-7DFA5086F32C.jpg)

(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/Steve91T/Camaro/CC218889-7BED-4075-ABC3-95FD9C38A4B9.jpg)

Much nicer than the one seen here: http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/index.php?s=&...st&p=188750

Almost like a BEFORE / AFTER (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Congrats ! ~DaVe

The bearings sure look better when they haven't been "extrude honed" with metal grit. I'd feel a lot better about putting that one in "as is" (though I'd probably still look at the main bearings, or at least one). Based on that cam bearing compared to your old one, I'd say bolt it together and get it back in the car.

That bearing looks better than the cam bearing on my 40k ls1 when I changed the cam!!!!!!!!

Thanks guys! I'm pretty stoked. I'm going to just run it as is.

I'm going to order some parts tonight.

Intake manifold gaskets
Knock sensors w/harness
Lifter trays

I obviously need to move the clutch/flywheel over to the new block. Will an LT1 clutch alignment tool work?

As well as anything.

I once used a 3/4" (I think) deepwell (1/2" drive) Craftsman socket. I put a 1/2" to 3/8" step down adapter and a 3/8" to 1/4" step down in that (so I could theoretically turn it with a 1/4" ratchet). I put exactly one wrap of electrical tape on the socket and it fit snuggly into the splines on the clutch disk. The 1/4" socket adapter fit inside the pilot bearing and the 1/2" to 3/8" adapter "keyed" on the radius of the pilot bearing. It's likely the first time I ever installed a clutch that I didn't have issues with clutch alignment. Those plastic alignment tools always resulted in "heartache".

I recently bought the tool from Jegs that has arbors to fit tight in the bearings. We used it on the 6 speed swap and it was better than the plastic one, but I think my socket version worked best. Just find the closest socket that isn't too large, and grab the electrical tape. Have someone push in on the socket while you snug the bolts to hold the clutch from shifting.

Dude, you crack me up.

And I'm totally taking your advice

It was like 2 am and I was trying to get a car back together. Or that's my guess (I really can't remember). The socket is still in my tray with a single (cleanly cut) wrap of tape around it. I'll have to check and see which size it is.

I'm a "been there/done that" kinda guy. I give advice based on standing on my head under cars at all hours of the night (usually successfully, sometimes not so much), or doing crew chief duties on my friends AIX (AV8SS, SVRA, HSR, etc) Mustang and the creative things we did to keep it running. There are lots of tools with chunks cut out of them, box ends converted to line wrenches, needle nose pliers with the tips ground down to become snap ring pliers. I own and buy a LOT of tools, but sometimes I still don't have what I need.

I recently rebuilt the front end of my neighbors 2002 Ford F150. I didn't have the special ball joint adapter for Ford 4WD trucks with the balljoint press (and I already had one ball joint out before realizing I needed it). I found an aluminum coil over "hat" in the garage (the upper perch that goes over the top "stud" on the shock) and it was heavy enough to get the job done....even though I was running the balljoint in with my 1/2" impact gun at full power. So, coil over hat=Ford 4WD balljoint adapter.

That's how this stuff happens. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)