Marshall Engines, Inc. Remanufactured SB Quality

[thomas1976]

I have purchased a Remanufactured 5.7L Long Block from rockauto.com. Engine is listed as "1991 PONTIAC FIREBIRD TRANS AM GTA 5.7L 350cid V8 MFI (8) : Engine : Long Block, MARSHALL Part # G350011C" The Remanufacturer is Marshall Engines in Nebraska. Marshall Engines, Inc. 404 West 8th Street Kearney, Nebraska 68845 Sales: 1-888-236-9610 Main: 1-308-234-6788 Fax: 1-308-234-1978 engine@marshallengines.com Shipping was perfect as usual with rockauto.com. The remanufactured engine turns aout was not a good buy. Since it seems they really dont whant to take this engine back, the least I can do is disassemble it and hope I will be able to turn it into something resonable. Ill post details as I disassemmble it and take mesurments.

[thomas1976]

Heads are 193 swirlports, Marshall Engines Technicians claim they are direct replacement for L98 083 iron heads.

For now we have:

cilinder head casting: remanufactured 193

bore size: 4.060
1piece main seal rollerblock casting 14093638

pistons: silvolite 1470, 13cc dish, 1.54" compression hight (stock 1.56")

For pics: http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/po...57-post21.html

[thomas1976]

Cylinder heads off, they were milled, exhaust valves are new, some intake valves are a little too used for a rebuild.

Gasket was a typical thick ( .050 x 4.1 in?)rebuilder gasket, probably Victor Reinz since since it was the brand of the rest of the gaskets, includet.

The block was surprisingly not decked.

Piston to deck:
#1 .044, #3 .045, #5 .045, #7 .053
#2 .048, #4 .051, #6 .046, #8 .055

Thys gives a Piston to Head of .094 to .0105

With 13cc dish pistons, milled heads and .060 overbore that gives around 8.5 to 8.7 CR.

For pics: http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/po...31-post22.html

[thomas1976]

This is what Marshall Engines thechnician e-mailed me wenn I expressed him that this is the wrong engine combination for a 5.7 1991 GTA.
He clearly dosent whant to admit what a disaster this engine is, even more in a 91 GTA.

"The engine (G350011C 268907) you received will work for your application with out any problems. It will not be an exact OEM engine and we do not dyno these engines or rate them at a specific hp. We do use more then one head casting on this engine and we do mill the block and heads. When we mill the block and heads we do not track how much is milled because we make sure not to go below a minimum spec. We do not go below 7.940 for the block height and 1.135 on the head thickness. The only way to guarantee that you would get the same casting #s as your original engine would be to have us rebuild your original engine and it would still not have the same horse power because the cylinders would be bored and the block and heads would be milled.

Thanks,

Mike Gana
Marshall Engines"

[thomas1976]

This is as helpful as rockauto was able to be in this situation, for now.

"Thank you for your telephone call. I contacted Marshall engine and relayed the information you provided.

You ordered the following engine: MARSHALL Part # G350011C OHV, 2 BOLT MAIN, ROLLER CAM, VALVE COVERS BOLT DOWN THE CENTER, (NOT FOR ALUMINUM HEAD APPLICATIONS). The technician said the tag number, Y268907, indicates that you received the G350011C engine. The aluminum heads were only used on the Corvette, so a cast iron cylinder head is correct for the Pontiac Firebird GTA. The full casting number from your old heads, 14101083, shows it to be a cast iron head with 1.94 inch intake valves and 1.50" exhaust valves.
The cylinder heads with the 193 casting number are cast iron, have square intake ports and 1.94" intake valves.
The Marshall technician said, when they rebuild an engine, they can not guarantee that the cylinder heads will have the same casting number as the original engine's cylinder heads unless they rebuild the original engine. The long block #G350011C was used in a number of different applications, but is correct for the GTA and the 193 head is the same size as the 083.

Please reply to this email if you have additional questions.

Karl
RockAuto Customer Service"

I never mentioned anithing about aluminium heads.

[//<86TA>\\]

thats the deal with almost if not all remanned engines. If you want something built "right" its a custom deal.

[thomas1976]

Yes looks like learn and DIY is the way to go. Im at a point with this engine, were I consider my self lucky if at least the engine block turns out usable with only decking.

After decking, Im thinking of moovin the piston with roads around to see if a acceptable, more even piston to deck is possible. On the other hand the cost of balancing the rotating assembly may push me to just get a new one.

I really would like to take some mesurements on Marshall's High performance Engines http://www.blueprintengines.com/ to see if they are the same pieces ouf junk work, put into crates and shipped around.

[thomas1976]

Marshall engines and Rockauto are both ignoring this situation. Looks like they dont care.

[thomas1976]

Push road seat is frozen in one roller lifter.

When I called Marshall engines, they dit not know to what specs they have machined the camshaft they put in the remanufactured engine. They only knew the word factory specs, when it gets too thechnical they say they cant guarantee the replacement engine to be exactly like the factory engine.

[thomas1976]

Engine block is at the machine shop for decking.

Cylinder bores are all out of round, #4 .0016", #1 .0008" and the rest of them .0012 in.

Service manual, Engine specifications list, production out of round .001" and service .002".

[thomas1976]

I have recived the refound from Rockauto for the remanufactured engine, minus shipping and taxes.

[casehd]

I was an ASE certified mechanic for 20 years in Nebraska, and have done literally hundreds of engine replacements. The shop I worked at and several of the shops in town, absolutely refused to sell or even install a Marshall rebuilt engine. You can take that as you will

[thomas1976]

Originally Posted by thomas1976

I really would like to take some mesurements on Marshall's High performance Engines http://www.blueprintengines.com/ to see if they are the same pieces ouf junk work, put into crates and shipped around.

It appears they are garbage too.
http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/po...21-post22.html
http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/po...28-post40.html

[UnderCover89TBI]

I do not install Marshall engines either. I wouldnt buy a blueprint engine if marshall makes them also.