whats up, havent posted in a long time. I have been having some problems with my car(208,XXX miles), i was thinking of rebuilding the engine and throwing in the crane cam at the same time, how much would you i be likely to spend on this rebuild?
im finacially limited (Universities suck) so i cant go out spend all the money i got.

2. Question: I've been also having problems with the temperature. the needle will actually go to the redline, but it doesnt over heat, i already have a 160* stat, my bro tells me that it might be the heater core. Any ideas? My fuel guage has also been acting up too.

 

LOL; I hear ya about #1! I've got 230,000 miles and don't want to spend $2k on a V6 rebuild- let alone being "able" to spend $2k while I'm in college. It all seems to depend on two things- how well you want to do the job, and if you'll be doing any of the work yourself. (Pics of a 2.8/2.8 swap at http://www.geocities.com/tomp_3rdgen )

"How well you want to do it" is mainly for machine work. You could rebuild a motor without getting it hot tanked or magnafluxed, but is it wise? Do you mind having them hone the cylinders, or will you try it yourself with a power drill? And then, what the guys told me on the Tech board makes sense: Buy the rebuild parts from the machine shop, they'll be more caring about the work they do, since they'll be making more cash off you.

Would you assemble the rotating assembly yourself? Do you want forged pistons? Add $300. Are you going to try and re-use the stock pistons, and get away with just a cylinder hone instead of a rebore? Keep in mind you don't want to go reboring the 3.1 80-over (it couldn't take it anyway); you're only supposed to do a rebore as part of a "cleanup" operation- overboring to the max allows NO room for later rebuilds (or mistakes). Will you do it "all the way"? Don't forget about lifters or pushrods or rocker arms or oil pumps or timing chains!

If you drop it in yourself, do you have an engine hoist (or a friend with one)? Otherwise you gotta rent it by the day, and I hear it's expensive. Do you have another car to drive around in? You won't rebuild your motor in a weekend- even if you could, there's no way you could coordinate with the machine shop for that short time period. So you might want to buy a junkyard 2.8, rebuild it, and that way, you can keep driving your car. When the junkyard one is rebuilt 100%, you take a weekend to swap the motors.

And if that sounds like alot, Karl's (KED85) got a solution...

As to the temp needle shooting up, are you sure it's not overheating? I don't see how the heater core would affect the temperature of the motor. If you had an air bubble below the thermostat when you put the upper hose back on, that air bubble isn't allowing the hot coolant to touch the thermo- and the thermo's staying shut, and the engine doesn't have access to the radiator to cool down.

'Course, the coolant temp sensor could be shot; it's at the front of the driver's side head, behind the a/c compressor, with a single green wire going to it.

 

ive already replaced the coolant temp sensor and i still get the same thing. Also i think i'll take it to a shop to do a rebuild, i guess i'll be getting some estimates now that you mention all the neccesery stuff, im considering putting forged internals, but i'll see what happens

 

I should've been a bit more clear... there's three coolant temp sensors on the motor. One is for the fan, and it's called a "fan switch"- when the coolant reaches 230 degrees, it grounds out, and turns the fan on. One is for the gauges, and it's the coolant temp gauge SENDER (called a SWITCH for idiot lights), and that's the one in the driver's side head. Then there's the real coolant temp sensor, CTS, located in the intake manifold, which tells the computer what the coolant temp is.

So if the CTS was replaced, it was probably the one for the computer, and not the gauge. Do you have a multimeter?

 

ive already replaced the fan swicht too, i guess it might be the third one, sender. The fuel guge has been acting up too, any clues?
Also my car sometimes pulls strong and other times it doesnt, any ideas? Timing chain?

 

I'm spending $600 to get a running 3.4 long block.
Why rebuild?
It a very wise solution.
This 3.4 is going into my 211,500 mile 1985 S-10 Blazer federal automatic 2.8 carb.
My current 3.4 is going quite storg & smog legal, thank you.
Look for my tech thread about the 2.8-3.4 long block swap boogie.
PS Either project TAKES AWHILE.
Want a 3.4? travel down to LA to get it.

 

Does it really need to be rebuilt? Check the pressure in each cylinder. It may just need a new timming chain and a good tune up...

 

How MUCH do you want to SPEND to really fix your problem?
How much TIME do you want to spend tracking down the problems?
How many TOOLS do you own or do you have friends that can guide ya & share their tools?

Once these engines loose Compression (VG Point Brian) you loose power.
If the chain is worn, you can have erratic performance.
SAME WITH IGNITION PARTS worn down from age.

My 44K 3.4 has 175-200 compression each cylinder.
My 211,500 miles S-10 Blazer 2.8 has 50 compression each cylinder.
I can move those Blazer pistons in bore by my hands, so much wear.
Why rebuild?
I swap in ($600 3.4) and spend a few bucks on gaskets.
I'm done.
No parts chasing, machinists bills, etc.
NOW ya wanna band aid your current engine.
Spend the money on ANY part that will swap to the next engine you slip under your hood.
Spend the MEASLY $6 at ANY GM DEALER and get the GM Performance Parts Book.
Look at the 60* V-6 section to see what you can buy from my used running 3.4 engine source in LA.

Compared to-
$1751 + tax for a new 3.4
$1808 for a new 3.1
$1676 for a new 2.8

 

im gonna have to check on the compression first, before deciding to do a rebuild, like i said im financially limited so... (also like i said universities suck, lol). And i dont have the tools to do this by myself, im gonna have to go to a shop. If i find out its the timing chain, then there will be more money for mods, lol

 

one tweaked 3.1L, do u goto city or state? i went to city for a while, be goin back in the fall.. assumming everything goes the way i really want it to (i get the money to get a 3.4), ill have a used running 2.8 from a 85 that i could sell to u for cheap.. i may even be able to deliver it to u.. ill find out tommorrow for sure..


-mike (loomdog)

 

hey whats up i go to state, (what color is your car loomdog32,maybe i'll see you around, and cough cough race yah, cough lol). I havent really gotten around to check the compression, finals, i wanna do this first before getting serious with the motor.

 

A CHEAP investment is to get a compression gauge, that has,
DIFFERENT SPARK PLUG FITTINGS ATTACHABLE at the end of a hose.
Screw in, "tighten", turn over engine.
THE MOST ACCURATE READING POSSIBLE, available to us street people (not mechaincs or a shop).
Other option is to have it done & be there to watch.