blown motor

[drfrankenstein]

hey guys im new here, but not new to my tahoe at all.. i have a 99 tahoe LS 4wd and a 99 Suburban LS 2wd. well took my burb in for a tickin noise they said valves need adjusting and per the receipt they refilled the coolant, well got it back no coolant at all blew a headgakset on the way home, then the motor hydrolocked... so i got my money back and now i am in need of a new motor, but i wanted some opinions on what to go with. i need a pretty quick install nothing thats gonna take me longer than just replacing the factory 5.7vortec. i am not new to motor swaps at all for i have done lt1 conversions in older volvo 240s, 280zx, ls1 swap in a caprice along wit a 6spd conversion in a caprice... i was wondering what harm would it down or like what pros and cons of not gettin a vortec motor but instead get like a early 90s caprice motor and put my vortec electronics on it.. like any suggestions, or what is all needed to just step up to a 5.3 vortec or 6.0??

 

[uxb101]

my 99 yukon slt motor blew up about 6 months ago so i put in a rebuild runs fine but gets really bad gas mileage 10-14 mpg i wish a put a 6.5 turbo diesel the 5.7 vortec is a gas guzzler

 

[drfrankenstein]

so after some thinking and observing.. it was a bad intake manifold gasket.. ding dong at the shop charged me for a new top end gasket set, and changed nothing at all. instead he tore the IM gasket and tried to put it back on... so i pulled the heads anyhow to completely clean out the cylinders by hand with rags cause that **** was jus too thick i didnt feel comfy with thinkin that jus lettin compression shoot it all out without spark plugs would do.. so yea i figured out that i wont let another asian work on any of my american cars (no racist **** on my behalf its just not the first bad experience with and no even in the same state... but i have had great experience with asians and my asian cars just wont let anyone touch my turbo e30 bmw)

 

[Trip]

The motor in my '99 blew while towing my boat home on a vacation last summer. It ran fine, then a ticking noise developed about 60 miles from home. Ten miles later....BOOM! Big cloud of with smoke, followed instantly by a heart attack, and then a few choice words on the side of the road. A month before that, I had the intake manifold gasket replaced. There seems to be a pattern here. I installed a new 5.7 vortec purchased directly from GM. Now hindsight being 20/20, I wish that I to installed the Turbo Diesel. The few extra chores to install it would have been worth it: like the fuel delivery system and the new vacuum pump to work the power brakes.

Just a word of advise for anyone with a bad IM gasket. DO IT YOURSELF! Just so you know that it is done right.