Fueled

I recently acquired a fairly low mileage LT1 - original owner said 29k miles. It's been sitting for some time so I'm debating on what to do with it. The oil was pretty much black goo and the coolant was equally nasty. Engine came from a wrecked car and ran fine when pulled. It is fairly low mileage as I can still see the cylinder cross hatching with a bore scope. It still had the original plugs also which looked pretty clean. No rust visible in the cylinders either.

My question is this - should I tear the thing down and inspect everything? I was thinking about replacing all gaskets and maybe the optispark before attempting to use it. With only 29k miles should I even bother with the head gaskets? Right now it's completely assembled with all the accessories.

Any thoughts other than get rid of it for an LS...

cumminsN14

I picked mine up for what i thought was a score, it was pretty nasty with oil crud on it, they pulled it from a wrecked car and said it was running great also. I cleaned it up, got new gaskets top and bottom, pulled rod cap and a main to check for wear on the bearings and they looked great with 86k miles on this motor. I had the intake off as i was doing a cam swap and noticed a streak of oil from between head and block in the lifter valley. Decided to pull heads and yep, blown head gasket but on the side that looked clean. Its hard to say if you have the engine apart to the point of pulling the heads, might as well do it. I took the opportunity to port my heads once i had them off. I would keep it though, it easier to swap than a LS imo and it can haul some *** too.

Brando5641

iTrader: (-1)

No......




lol j/k, run it

Fueled

I was thinking at the very least to replace the rear main seal while its out. I've heard the LTs are prone to leak there.

Z28ricer

iTrader: (2)

Replace all of the gaskets except the headgaskets, when you have the oil pan off you can better inspect each of the bores from the bottom, so long as they all look good finish with the regasket process and enjoy.

Pocket

iTrader: (24)

RMS along with oil pump should be a given whenever an engine is out of the car

Run it, I wouldnt replace anything else unless it was suspect. Opti included

Any money spent is money not spent on a real engine in the future

89rs454

Throw it in asap! The LT1 is a match made in heaven for the thirdgens, This is the engine GM should have put in 91-92s as a 1le to 1up the IROCS but GM Did what the guy with the pink suit had on in mind.

89rs454

Oh yeah and pocket This badass stock LT1 is coming for you!

Fueled

Thanks for the feedback guys. I don't mind spending a little money or time up front to ensure the longevity of this motor. I'm not planning to modify it much from stock with the exception of exhaust. I haven't had a fuel injected third gen in a while so I think this LT1 will be fun to drive