kmcn47

finally took the plunge and bout a motor, guy said it was a 99 with probably close to 260k miles on it, but who knows, i'll wait til i have the oil pan and "rocker covers" off to make the call on full rebuild or not, i do plan for this to be a SUPER BUDGET swap. any input is appreciated on it, thanks guys



paid 400 bucks for it, delivered to my house

25th327RS

iTrader: (2)

Give us some more info on the swap. Keeping FI.... What trans?

kmcn47

keeping fi trying to do it as cheap as possible with all the truck stuff, will use adapter plates and an fbody oil pan, probably keeping truck intake and acc, stock tune form truck ecu, try and use the trans i have now (was told its a 4l60 but i think its a 700r4) ik there basically the same but i'd like to be sure, my car now is not fi so i'll be getting the walboro 255 pump in the stock tank, i know there will be a whole slew of problems i'm just gonna try and tackle them as they come to my attention.

kmcn47

did a little bit more tonight, cleaned up mostly got the head casting #s anyone know if 862s are good heads?

kmcn47

oh yeah, did a little bit of snooping on it, i have 4 bosch plugs and 4 ngk plugs, oil left in it looks to be burnt, smells well like oil, plugs looked good for an engine that supposedly has 260k miles on it

Brando5641

iTrader: (-1)

They are not worth rebuilding IMO. For what bearings and a gasket set are going to cost you can buy a 100,000ish mile motor that will last you till you drop in a 6.0. I would just throw it in and see what happens. I had a 4.8 work truck that had 320,000 on it when i left the company a year ago and it is still going no issues.

kmcn47

well i got the plugs out today, and correction 4 ac delcos, look to be originals, i guess the back 4 are too hard to change, and 4 of the worst bosch plug ever in the front, pics to follow, got one valve cover off, man was it nasty inside, got an engine stand, and got it put together, hopefully tomorrow i can get the thing up on it so i can get the pan off. anyone know what size bolts i need to mount it on the stand, i was told metric. as for sizes idk

kmcn47

what i found after getting the valve cover (which was muddy as all hell)

kmcn47

and the condition of the plugs

kmcn47

i thought they only made condoms?

ZONES89RS

iTrader: (2)

Clean it up and throw it in the car.

25th327RS

iTrader: (2)

If you do just Install as is, atleast replace the oil pump.

kmcn47

I'll definitely be replacing the oil pump, im waiting to "throw it in" until i have everything i'll need, the f body oil pan, the right mounts (still not sure what ones i need) a harness that will work (which i'll have to make) an in tank fuel pump that will work (maybe even a 4th gen tank who knows) and i dont know if anyone else noticed it yet my girlfriend pointed it out to me tonight while she was helping me with it i need an alternator. gonna clean/replace broken stuff/ paint it. and try and condense the whole "swap" into a weekend if possible car is still daily driven even though there are 3 i could use at any given time. anyone got a good idea of what my options for the harness are? besides me making one? anyone out there who adapts my stock harness and what i have of the silverado harness? i think that about covers it that and will the stock silverado ecu work if im fine with stock hp? i know i'll need to delete some of the i/m monitors and codes. oh yeah i need f-body exhaust manifolds too don't i? will they work with a stock exhaust

ZONES89RS

iTrader: (2)

I shim the spring in the stock pumps .020 and call it good. Never had a issue.

Brando5641

iTrader: (-1)

+1

25th327RS

iTrader: (2)

Oil pump is your call. Relief valves do stick from time to time on high mileage motors, mine happened to be one the other week. Google ls1 oil pump fail, and several threads from different sites pop up.....wish I'd of done mine.

Fbody manifolds will work, with custom ypipe. Maybe 4th gen ypipe works too, not sure.

Wiring can be done by speartech, hawks, and a few members here do them as well. One issue I do see, is that your PCM plugs are cut off the harness. Fixable, if you have the PCM plugs atleast......

kmcn47

thanks for good info, your being quite helpful really, i do have alot of n00b questions i know, but hey this is the first engine I've built, well the first v8 anyways, and i don't want to **** it up, if i do it right it will probably outlast the car

ZONES89RS

iTrader: (2)

Makes me wonder if shimming the spring helps avoid the problems? I have done more LS swaps than probably anyone on this site that i know if and not a issues yet. If you have the cash, get a pump, i am broke and skid by as cheap as i can.

25th327RS

iTrader: (2)

When I dropped of the 6.0 to get built, I asked the builder/tuner about the failure I experienced. He has seen it a few times, always on higher mile motors. Sometimes, its material stuck in the relief valve, and sometimes he said the actual bore for the relief valve gets scored over time and jambs. It is not at all common by any means, but not totally unheard of. Coming from my current position, I am probably very cautious about pumps now. 100 dollar pump just cost me 2,000 for a rebuild.

ZONES89RS

iTrader: (2)

Very true. I took the pump apart from my 6.0 after i spun a bearing. It was sticking when i tried to turn it by hand. Cleaned it and put it back together and now its fine. Those little pieces of bearing were doing a number.

kmcn47

i'm all for scraping by cheaply, but i err on the side of caution, id hate to put all my blood sweat and tears into this build to have an oil pump screw me over totally

Brando5641

iTrader: (-1)

some of us are a little gun shy of oil pumps now lol.


but I would be too if it happend to me


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kmcn47

who wouldn't, i remember my heatercore in my firebird shitting on me and dumping antifreeze all over my school books and carpet fun day that was, so one of the first things i did was to swap it out when i got my camaro

Brando5641

iTrader: (-1)

lol yea we all have our things that are embedded into our heads forever from life changing events.

Back to the car...

When are you putting that beast in?

kmcn47

when i'm good and ready, got my hardware for the stand today, i am pulling the pan (i have to anyway because the truck pan wont clear, and i need to use an f-body one
(anyone know if the stock windage tray/pickup tube can be cut to work or if i need the whole thing from a 98-02 camaro? and i plan to paint it, have a harness made and an ecu ready to use, and i still need to get an intank pump and make sure i can fuel this beast. so ................. awhile? not sure, trying not to go broke all at once haha

Brando5641

iTrader: (-1)

Yes you can just trim back the truck windage tray with some tin snips.

kmcn47

thank you, do you happen to know if my 99 5.3 would work with a 700r4 as im still not 100% on what trans i have in my car

Brando5641

iTrader: (-1)

you can make it work with an adaptor for the throttle to run the tv cable. Im not sure who makes it (maybe locar?) but im sure a little googling would find it pretty quick. And i think with the 99 5.3 you wont need the crank spacer.

kmcn47

got the engine up on my stand tonight (is it supposed to ..... "droop" so much in the front?) got the intake off, did most of my time degreasing (de-mudding) i mean gods above the ammount of mudd on this engine it cannot be true, on the plus side everythings looking nice and clean and still fresh inside so theres a plus, got some better pics (to follow) tonight with my real camera (nikon d3000) thinking to myself more and more that i should just try and swap it "the right way" and not try and keep all the truck acc and intake, also are the intake, valve cover gaskets re-useable? they still look pretty good?

kmcn47

kmcn47

having a hell of a time with this, any ideas?

Brando5641

iTrader: (-1)

lol my god. My brother inlaw just bought a 5.3 the other day that looked just like that. We took it to the car wash in the back of his truck. 1000x faster than scraping

kmcn47

i dont have the luxury of a truck, hopefully i will soon though, my dads looking at an extended cab 2500 hd with a 6.0, he just has to one up me with a newer bigger engine lol

Dakota W.

Lol, you so totally copied my build thread, engine price and all! Good luck to you, I'm already double my 1000 budget LOL!

kmcn47

you swapped in a 350 didn't you? with your stock tpi? hows my 5.3 a copy lol and i'll be over 1000 just in parts to make it work probably

kmcn47

anyone know if i have to take my head bolts out in any particular order?

Dakota W.

You don't, just make sure they go back in, in the right order. And get head studs from ARP.

25th327RS

iTrader: (2)

Also be aware if you already aren't, that factory GM headbolts are single-use torque to yield (TTY) bolts. ARP and most aftermarket performance oriented headbolts are re-useable though.

Brando5641

iTrader: (-1)

Why are you pulling them off? Head gasket set and bolts are $100+

25th327RS

iTrader: (2)

Through summit, bolts are 28 per head, and gaskets are 35-40 per head

kmcn47

what he said ^ and i don't know if i really should and have them cleaned up or not, the hot rodder in me says yes and get them mildly ported if i can, the side of me thats doing the swap and realizes i'm still going to drive this car EVERYDAY says to leave well enough alone, check the thrust bearing and if its good, get it cleaned painted and then get it in.

EDIT: also ARP while a quality product, costs abotu what a quality product costs, if i do end up taking the heads off, then i will, but if not i can't justify the cost for a BUDGET swap lol

Brando5641

iTrader: (-1)

I wouldn't mess with it. For what you are just going to have in bolts and gaskets you can buy a walbro or a mail order tune, SS fuel line and fittings...

I'm with everyone els, just throw it in and drive it like you stole it.

Dakota W.

Are either of the head gaskets blown?

kmcn47

no, far as i know engine is fine, but 260k miles is kinda scary to me, i'm gonna leave the heads alone, but i am going to upgrade the oil pump just to be safe, like i said aside from cleaning it and painting it i'm not really gonna mess with it

Brando5641

iTrader: (-1)

Good plan. I am with you on replacing the oil pump.

Dakota W.

How did the main bearings look? how do the cylinder walls look/feel? any crosshatch at all left?

kmcn47

didn't pull the heads, don't plan too, everything in the bottom end looked fine, better then i expected for sure, i expected to be out 400 bucks and have wasted money on this engine haha. got my fbody oil pan on, still not totally sure on mounts, i have 99 camaro engine mounts brand new, do i still need the hawks motor mount plates?

Dakota W.

Don't need to pull the heads to check cylinder walls, just look/feel the cylinders that are up from the bottom. But you already put the oil pan on, so don't worry about it. As far as motor mounts go, I like my rubber mounts; I've heard poly transmits a lot of vibration, solids transmit even more.

kmcn47

i can take it back off, no biggie, i know to look for crosshatch, but can you feel it?

Dakota W.

I'm not sure if you can feel it or not, I've never had an engine with enough of it to feel LOL. I would think you'd be able to if there was enough left though.