Engine Rebuild

[hoser]

Hi
I just bought a 96 Tahoe with a blown engine, actually the engine is locked up, it had a oil leak some place and the lady ran it out of oil, right now I am leaning towards rebuilding rather than replacing, the engine is torn down and the damage does not look bad, new cam bearings, hone fresh rings and bearings it should be good to go.

Any suggestions on a manual for the engine, I have manuals and books on older stuff but nothing this new.

I was amazed how good parts looked inside the engine, no ridge at the top of the cylinder, 90%+ of the cross hatch still on the cylinder walls, machine marks still on the skirts of the pistons, spark plugs all white look new, no build up of gunk on the valve stems, no wear on lifters or lifter bores, cam lobes look new, the main bearings and a few rod bearings scored bad but I think all the crank needs is a polish.

Also looking for suggestions on the rebuild parts its been a while since I have rebuilt a automotive engine so I am not sure what brands to go with and what stuff to avoid, I dont want to buy some cheap made in china crap, all the name brands still good? Hastings, Clevite, felpro etc. ?

My list of parts needed so far, it looks like most the stock parts has part numbers on them I will probably price GM parts while I am at it.

Oil pump
Gaskets
Timing chain/gears
Rings
Main bearings
Rod bearings
Cam bearings
Seals


Thanks in advance I am looking forward to getting this thing back on the road again.

 

[keithhernadez]

if ur doing a rebuild always replace the cam...my buddy put 4k in a 3.1 lumina and ended up snapping the cam which was the only thing he didnt replace...might as well do the rods too and the lifters....and valves...

 

[General Stalin]

Well if all the valvetrain parts still look great, I see no reason to replace them. He's not rebuilding a performance engine, so no reason to fix what isn't broken.

If you are doing a simple rebuild with just new gaskets and seals and such, just get a full 1996 5.7L 350 rebuild kit, It will come with pistons, rings, bearings, all the gaskets you need, rings and seals etc. Here you go, this is just what you want:

http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?part=FEM-MK6504-000&autoview=sku

Federal Mogul, Sealed Power, and Felpro are great names in gaskets and seals/rebuild parts.

As for the timing chain, you could go with Comp Cams, Crane Cams, Edelbrock, or something like that, but I would suggest buying GM performance as you are keeping the engine stock anyway.

http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?part=NAL-12371043&autoview=sku

Maybe get a GM Performance oil pump as well. I like the rims on that truck btw, it looks nice. How many miles are not it?

 

[keithhernadez]

i get all that stuff from work plus a 20% discount lol

 

[hoser]

i get all that stuff from work plus a 20% discount lol

Can you hook me up with a discount too?

The Tahoe has 192k miles on it.

Is their a online site where you can plug in the GM part numbers and get a price?

Thanks again.

 

[njtahoex2]

Hello. Polishing a crank is very risky when you have a bearing failure. It almost never works in the diesel field anyway so be careful.
KG

 

[hoser]

Update... Its back up and running.

Put the crank in the lathe and polished it, it miked out as good, replace all the bearings including the cam bearings, seals, rings, and timing chain gears.

Everything else checked out to be only about 1/2 worn out according to the service manual specs, even the oil pump, no visible wear or scuffing on anything critical, it went 198k miles and was only 1/2 worn out so I figure it should go 100k miles no problems, if the body last 100k miles and the engine needs rebuilt I will rebuild it again.:skep:

The only hickup so far was installing the distributor, I set number one cylinder at TDC on the fire stroke then lined up the rotor in the distributor with number one spark plug post and dropped it, I took it to my buddys auto shop his computer says the timing is -37 degrees retard so I need to pull the distributor and move it clock wise 1 tooth on the gear.

 

[Scany]

that was quick. Took me 6 months just to take the old one out and putting the new Jasper one in. then again I did it first time with no help and slow part suppliers like GM..

 

[hoser]

that was quick. Took me 6 months just to take the old one out and putting the new Jasper one in. then again I did it first time with no help and slow part suppliers like GM..

Whats the story why your replacing your engine?

Why did it take you so long to remove yours?

 

[Scany]

Whats the story why your replacing your engine?

Why did it take you so long to remove yours?

Well, I bought it last year. first the head gaskets needed replacement along with a new radiator because the thing leaked all it's coolant. this was day 1. i should have known something was up. I had warranty through Warrantech (talk about a**holes). Two months later the main bearings broke and I needed a new engine. Warrantech didn't want to do it because it had a K&N filter attached to it and American Racing wheels (which is stock on the Ducks Unlimited version). Even though K&N wanted me to sue them, I decided to replace the engine myself.

Bought a rebuilt Jasper engine with larger cams, and a shi¤% load of parts that I didn't know the engine didn't have from Jasper. Parts taking forever to get in from the GM dealership and/or Summit Racing. Hadn't done this before so I stepped very carefully and slow without much help. Sometime a solid break in the work was needed as frustration buildup became an issue.

It's now running, far from perfect, but running.

 

[hoser]

Well, I bought it last year. first the head gaskets needed replacement along with a new radiator because the thing leaked all it's coolant. this was day 1. i should have known something was up. I had warranty through Warrantech (talk about a**holes). Two months later the main bearings broke and I needed a new engine. Warrantech didn't want to do it because it had a K&N filter attached to it and American Racing wheels (which is stock on the Ducks Unlimited version). Even though K&N wanted me to sue them, I decided to replace the engine myself.

Bought a rebuilt Jasper engine with larger cams, and a shi¤% load of parts that I didn't know the engine didn't have from Jasper. Parts taking forever to get in from the GM dealership and/or Summit Racing. Hadn't done this before so I stepped very carefully and slow without much help. Sometime a solid break in the work was needed as frustration buildup became an issue.

It's now running, far from perfect, but running.

Sorry to hear about you had so much problems..

You still have your old engine or do you have to return it as a core charge?

 

[jeep450]

It will save you money in the long run if you buy a GM crate engine. Do some looking around and you will see. It will be a brand new engine PLUS one hell of a warranty behind it. Check online and go to your local chevy dealer, our parts department matches what you can buy one online for plus if gives you someone local to deal with if you have problems.


There is also a 383 crate engine that replaces the 350 if you have a little more money to spend on it.

 

[Scany]

Sorry to hear about you had so much problems..

You still have your old engine or do you have to return it as a core charge?

Had to return it for core.

It will save you money in the long run if you buy a GM crate engine. Do some looking around and you will see. It will be a brand new engine PLUS one hell of a warranty behind it. Check online and go to your local chevy dealer, our parts department matches what you can buy one online for plus if gives you someone local to deal with if you have problems.


There is also a 383 crate engine that replaces the 350 if you have a little more money to spend on it.

Looking back I probably would have bought the GM crate engine. I was looking at them and almost bought one before someone convinced me about Jasper. The price was good, but I had to add so many parts on top of that. Also, my local GM parts department isn't exactly giving me that nice warm feeling both when I talk to them and swipe the card. Jasper also gave me a 100,000 miles / 3 years warranty.