Budget rebuild items?

[Charlie207]

AutoZone valve spring tool loaner was the wrong tool.

The lifters and pushrods were in decent shape.

Is the 6.0 oil pan the same as the 5.3? What's that little plate?

Oil pan goop

Ah, frig... that cam bearing looks bad.

I took a ton of photos, but these were the highlights from the 4 hours of untwisting nuts and bolts.

 

[j91z28d1]

that old girl was pretty full of sludge huh.

I will say when they joke about all ls cam bearing being bad of you look at them.. this might be the worst Pic I've see.



might be worth having that block cleaned and no bearing at that point. you can buy the tool and install them yourself if you want to thou.

 

[Charlie207]

Yeah, I was scouting out the tool on Scamazon last night. It doesn't look like AutoZone rents it, which is a shame, but it's only like $60 to buy.

As far as sludge, yeah... kind of gross, but the pickup screen was at least totally clean. The top of the heads are sludge-free, so.... yay.

I did call a local machine shop yesterday, to get a ballpark price on getting the heads cleaned in their hotwash tank, and surface skimmed. They said $150 for a basic service (both heads), and up to $400 if I need them to do the basic service plus a valve job and new spring installation. This was before I pulled the cam, so I'll probably see what it costs to clean the block as well.

Taking a break tonight to do some other stuff, but I guess I'll pull the main caps and crankshaft out. I was hoping the cam bearings would look gorgeous, but.... in for a penny/in for a pound.

I should probably build a little spreadsheet to track time, money, and hopes/dreams for this.

 

[Geotrash]

Yeah, I was scouting out the tool on Scamazon last night. It doesn't look like AutoZone rents it, which is a shame, but it's only like $60 to buy.

As far as sludge, yeah... kind of gross, but the pickup screen was at least totally clean. The top of the heads are sludge-free, so.... yay.

I did call a local machine shop yesterday, to get a ballpark price on getting the heads cleaned in their hotwash tank, and surface skimmed. They said $150 for a basic service (both heads), and up to $400 if I need them to do the basic service plus a valve job and new spring installation. This was before I pulled the cam, so I'll probably see what it costs to clean the block as well.

Taking a break tonight to do some other stuff, but I guess I'll pull the main caps and crankshaft out. I was hoping the cam bearings would look gorgeous, but.... in for a penny/in for a pound.

I should probably build a little spreadsheet to track time, money, and hopes/dreams for this.

I would absolutely have them clean and inspect the block as well. Much nicer to be working with a clean engine. At that point, you might as well have them do a light hone and anything else they recommend.

 

[Charlie207]

I would absolutely have them clean and inspect the block as well. Much nicer to be working with a clean engine. At that point, you might as well have them do a light hone and anything else they recommend.

Yep, agree on all fronts.

I'm probably going to have them do the valve job on the heads, but I should be able to install everything.

 

[Geotrash]

Yep, agree on all fronts.

I'm probably going to have them do the valve job on the heads, but I should be able to install everything.

Good call. But installing the springs and seals usually goes with the valve job since the valves are lapped in place.

 

[Charlie207]

Good call. But installing the springs and seals usually goes with the valve job since the valves are lapped in place.

Huh... the more you know.

 

[Charlie207]

What color should the block be?

 

[strutaeng]

I recently got some 317 head re machined and it was $350, so that sounds pretty fair I would say.

For cam bearings, I bought the Summit dedicated LS tool. I think it was like $85 and works pretty good. Cam bearings themselves are only like $25. Durabond CH-25 for the late Gen III and Gen IV engines IIRC. They are supposed to be wider than the stock ones, but I've never measured the actual differences.

 

[Charlie207]

I recently got some 317 head re machined and it was $350, so that sounds pretty fair I would say.

For cam bearings, I bought the Summit dedicated LS tool. I think it was like $85 and works pretty good. Cam bearings themselves are only like $25. Durabond CH-25 for the late Gen III and Gen IV engines IIRC. They are supposed to be wider than the stock ones, but I've never measured the actual differences.

Would you knock the old cam bearings out before sending it to the shop for cleaning?

 

[strutaeng]

Would you knock the old cam bearings out before sending it to the shop for cleaning?

No.

Because you need that special tool to remove them. Or how else would you remove them? Maybe the outer ones you can tap them out with a screwdriver (?) but not the inner ones...just let them handle them altogether.

 

[Charlie207]

No.

Because you need that special tool to remove them. Or how else would you remove them? Maybe the outer ones you can tap them out with a screwdriver (?) but not the inner ones...just let them handle them altogether.

I'd borrow or buy the tool if it would make sense.

 

[donjetman]

Would you knock the old cam bearings out before sending it to the shop for cleaning?

yes jf you have the proper tools of course.

 

[Charlie207]

Had a little free time today, so I cleaned up the part of the basement I made a mess in, and organized some stuff.

Pulled the #1 rod cap and piston to glimpse at the bearings and crank surface. Rod bearings look to have some wear, but I'm not sure how bad. Crank doesn't look terrible, but again, I'm no LS expert. The surfaces felt smooth, with no gouges.

Cap #1

Rod #1 bearing n

Crank

 

[petethepug]

Hmmm, waiting for Dr. LS to chime in on this.

 

[strutaeng]

The bearings don't look too bad to me, I'd slap it back together.

The crank, however, seems a little more scoring than what I would like to see. I think if you can't catch your fingernail across it, you can still run it...

I'm doing a DIY rebuild on my LQ4 right now. It had 262k. My bearings looked a bit worse, but the crank journals looked pretty good. I just put the bottom end together with new bearings. I wish I would have taken a picture of the crank journals.

You can check clearances with plastiguage. My local AutoZone carries it, but I have to give them the part number. The parts counter guys always tell me they didn't know they carried it the times I ask for it. Go figure.

 

[j91z28d1]

definitely had some trash pumped thru it. by the looks of it, this poor thing didn't get a lot of oil changes and cheap filters.


my 2 cents is are you in a hurry? while I would have no worry about those going another few 100k also what's the point. if you're all ready having to deal with a machine shop to have the block cleaned and new cam bearings, not much extra to have the crank polished and toss some new bearings in it.

 

[Charlie207]

definitely had some trash pumped thru it. by the looks of it, this poor thing didn't get a lot of oil changes and cheap filters.


my 2 cents is are you in a hurry? while I would have no worry about those going another few 100k also what's the point. if you're all ready having to deal with a machine shop to have the block cleaned and new cam bearings, not much extra to have the crank polished and toss some new bearings in it.

I'm not in a hurry, no. This engine is going to eventually replace the 5.3 LMG in my Yukon that is currently running well, with no issues.

I was planning to have the heads refreshed (skimmed, hot wash, and if they need it - a valve job) once I figure out what cam I want.

After seeing the condition of the cam bearings, they will need to be replaced as well, which would make sense to have the shop do it (still haven't found a shop yet) since the block is filthy, and would need to also be hot washed at the least. And, I assume they'd need to mic the crank journals to recommend any undersized bearings, if needed. Or, does polishing the crank typically let you run standard sized bearings?

How much (if anyone knows) does it cost to have the crank journals polished?

So, it seems like I need to have my cam chosen before moving forward. That should give some time for the discretionary fund to build back up.

 

[donjetman]

beariing looks better than the crank, but it might polish out.

 

[strutaeng]

My local machine shop recommended another local guy that polishes cranks, very small one-man shop. It was $50 to polish my crank, like 2 years ago.

They should be able to tell if a polish should be fine or if you need to turn it down.