My dad brought up a point the other day after i replaced the gaskets on my TPI L98... the lifter valley was CLEAN. the whole motor was pretty clean..the heads/valves/etc looked clean too and fairly new but i have no idea. the trans was all original, cuz it blew at 140K miles and you can see the worn bands/clutches etc.

the car was repainted and thats all i knew off, but the motor looked pretty clean to me....

my dad was just tellin me that alot of old high mileage motors have sludge build up or w/e in the lifter valley. Unless my car was extremely babied, could it be possible that it was rebuilt? i mean i hope there is that possibility so i could maybe mod it some more, like a mild cam/head combo, but i was gonna hold off on that till i had a new solid motor

 

Well, the religous maintenance I did to my wife's '92 caddie left the engine looking like it had only 30,000 miles on it when it was traded in.
It had 285,000 on the odometer, still made full power and didn't use any oil.
Got $1800 for it.
Thanks Havoline!

 

Could be either babied or relatively new. Check the casting numbers. As long as it runs good and doesn't make any clicking, ticking, or knocking noises, I'd go ahead and do all the mods you want. Although, Nitros wouldn't be a good idea.

 

Treatment and maintenence of the motor has more to do with it than mileage. My grandmother's 78 Malibu had only 30K on it when I inerited it. It hand sludge 1/2" thick in the lifter valley- all those miles were short trips to Church and the supermarket. The motor never really warmed up and the oil was not changed frequently enough.

 

ever since i bought it at 131K miles, i been running it pretty hard on occassion, track days every now and then, but been keeping good care of it. i let it warm up before goin out, and change oil frequently. the car runs strong still.

 

IF the car is driven for more than 10 miles after initial start up, and the oil changed regularly then it shouldnt have any sludge. What causes sludge is moisture in the engine mixing with the oil before the engine gets hot enough to burn the moisture off. Dont forget to rag on the car at least once a week also, that helps too.

When i did the intake manifold on my car at like 105k miles it didnt have ne sludge in the lifter valley....

 

That's something that FAR too many people ignore. Keep that up, and you'll have a lot better chance of joining the half-million mile club. For my money, loading an engine before the oil is circulating AND is warm enough to establish a contiguous film of lubrication instead of individual "gobs" lubricant pockets of varying viscosity scattered around the engine is just plain abusive. Allowign it to gain a little temperature before anything but a light load is just good practice.

 

when i start my car it hits nearly 1500 rpm n then slowly settles to the normal idle, takes it about a minute and half to hit 1000, and when it hits a 1000 or lower then i take off. after that i wont pin the throttle till its fully warmed up. hopefully thats good enough.

 

thanks! i hope it lasts long but i wont really be needing that once i get some extra cash to build up a nice 383 or LS1 swap lol. but lettin it warm up is something i never did with my 94 grand am beater and it kicked the bucket by 130K miles..i beat on that car, 20 degree days...first startup...driving to 6k redline within 1 minute...LOL

 

If it's mine, no.

 

Sludge or no sludge, let's face it, modin' a 150K motor beyond a set of headder's, Free flowing air filter, and maybe an aftermarket chip? Not much point.

 

why? if its in solid shape it should be good to go

 

Milage has nothing to do with condition. As long as you have solid EVEN compression across the board and oil changes done often you should be able to mod that engine and have lots of miles of reliable service, with just about as much power as a lesser milage motor. Just my

 

That's not true at all. You can see by his times his engine is healthy. My car/engine has 70,000 original miles, and was never beat on. And his car is running faster times. But he has drag radials and a stall, so it's not fair But he has me out MPH'ed

 

You going to put a big honkin' cam in it? I'm thinking about the ring seal and cyl. walls, bearings, valve seals, timing chain and gears, and a multitude of other moving parts that are starting to feel their age. Let's face it, by the time he get's it all together and running good it'll be time to rebuild if he doesn't break something first from the increased RPM and torque.

 

naw, if i did something like a cam it would be mild, like a lt4 hotcam to match my LT1 intake that i'll be doing. but i doubt i'll do a cam swap anytime soon.

thanks! thats what i was thinkin too, as my car runs as strong as it did from the factory and it got me thinkin, maybe its been rebuilt

 

Ive got one of these and its a great lil car, 4 banger n all with 140k on the clock

 

Useually, That is a selling point and the info is passed on to the new owner who should have passed it on to you. Might check back where or who you bought it from if possible and see if you can find out. If you can't, try a good comp. test and leak down test to see what pressure your running. That's a good indication of your engines internal condition! as far as rings and valves.

 

I agree with some of the more seasoned members of this board

change the oil pump the rear main seal the timing chain the valve seals

performance upgrades like headers, pleneum porting, air intake upgrade

Go get an average 70 yr old and make him run jump and act like a college kid and watch him fall

 

metal parts and old men dont really relate tho. metal fatigues over time but in a motor that is babied, a 150K miles over 16 years isnt alot of abuse. so i think a compression test is in order to really see if the motor is still pretty strong

 

Oh, that was a shot! Next time if you make it to the final eliminations, (if you do) better look over in the next lane and check the age of your compitition.

 

haha, i dont even competitively race my car, but i know lots of "old" guys that will knock off perfect reaction times and run their dial in's consistantly. i just think a older motor can still be plenty strong if it wasnt abused much. only one way to find out

 

you dont see many old men talkin about the coke they did the night before

just the same as you dont put a 500+ lift cam and spray a 150k mile engine even if the miles are all down hill granny driven 10 mph

 

depends on the old man.... lol

and i was only thinking of a .492 cam with lt1 intake...thats all. nothing much. no spray will touch this stock motor, nor boost

 

by the way I was just messin

I just put down the sealer prime on my 69 C-10

next is the candy apple

HOO YA AMERICA!

my bird and truck will look boomb in tow

 

make sure u change the valve springs, seals and do something about the weak rocker studs

 

if it ever comes down to that, i will definately do all that. i really wanna look at converting lt1 heads over and using a ported set of them. u can get them for fairly cheap nowadays.