Huck's daily - 2005 Z71 crewcab

[TotalyHucked]

I hate situations like this. Not to project what YOU are thinking Huck, but ok, buy another used engine, and what’s going to be the issue with that one? I guess it would help if you could heat a replacement running in a vehicle before it was pulled.

Oh I know. I'm not gonna spend good money on an unknown used engine. If I go used, I'll only buy one from one of my buddies that I trust that yanked it out of something running so it's known good, one of whom owns the junkyard I got the engine for my C10 from. Or I'll pull one from the pick and pull myself for $400 and send it to the machine shop. If I could find a known good LQ4 or LQ9, that would be ideal IMO. I'll throw a cam in (and not look at the bearings this time), reseal it, throw on my 706 heads for a little compression bump and slap it in.

Or if none of that works out, my tuner is also a full machine shop and he builds long blocks. He does what he calls "Road Warrior" 5.3s that are .030" over, flat tops, ground/polished GM cranks, gen4 rods and all fresh bearings for $3k. Or "Iron 5.7s" for $3500. Just have to install cam/lifters/top end and all the accessory stuff.

 

[TotalyHucked]

That looks like you need a 6.0... Leave the factory magic in it other than a cam and springs. Then rebuild the 5.3 for boost and hang on to it for the next Daily that you're going to keep stock

Maybe the exhaust manifolds were my problem? But if some of those crossbars aren't removable, I'll stick with that. Mine much have been a static one, and the other just happens to be removable. That one was sold 5 years ago, so no way to confirm.

Exactly my thoughts. If I can find a known good 6.0, whether it's an LQ4 or an LQ9, leave the bottom end alone and just slip a cam in/reseal it and roll on.

The 5.3 will get fully reassembled and thrown on the stand for later. I've promised my buddy's 8yr old son that he could help me tear down an engine at some point, so this would be the perfect one to do.

 

[TotalyHucked]

Here's some more pics

This is the #2 rod

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#4

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#7

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#7 cap. None of the caps had the funky wear on them like the rod side did, just clearly lots of trash from the #1 rod bearing giving up

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[idahovette]

Gee, and here I thought all you LS fans were saying they were bulletproof............I guess nothing is if you don't oil them Just gettin' my digs in, sorry you gotta go thru this @TotalyHucked , Zach

 

[TotalyHucked]

Gee, and here I thought all you LS fans were saying they were bulletproof............I guess nothing is if you don't oil them Just gettin' my digs in, sorry you gotta go thru this @TotalyHucked , Zach

Yeah, it sucks. This is the first engine I've ever killed though. In my defense, I'd just changed the oil about a week before I left and it had never used any oil before that. It was a fairly fresh rebuild, I never thought it'd go through that much oil that fast.

 

[TotalyHucked]

So lemme lay out some options I've found at the moment, I'm all ears for opinions. I know a used engine is always a gamble and will need to be replaced again long before the new one would. But keep in mind, this was not in the plans and not budgeted for, so I'm trying to keep the bleeding to a minimum right now. If I go the used route, I'll start putting some money away here and there to eventually have my buddy do me a 408 stroker or something, that's always kinda been in the plans anyway.


#1 - My tuner buddy also does machine work. He's currently assembling an iron 5.7 (5.3 with an overbore) shortblock. That would be $3500 and gets me a freshly machined block, polished GM crank, resized gen4 rods, fresh pistons, bearings/rings, cam bearings and freeze plugs installed. Cam/lifters are another $500, plus gaskets/etc. This is what my dad's pushing for, I don't love the $5k+ it'll end up being in the end.

#2 - I can take him my 5.3, it's $1800 for full machine work on the block, install cam bearings/freeze plugs. Another couple hundred to grind the crank. Have him inspect/resize the one rod that the bearing spun on. Then bearings/rings/cam/lifters/pistons/etc. This would probably be $3k-ish

#3 - Use my 5.3, the block is still fine. Buy a dial-bore gauge and triple check everything. If it checks out, get the block hot tanked and then just do the same dingle ball hone/ring/bearing I did before. Buy a crank kit with a reman GM crank and some fresh flat top pistons (mainly cuz mine are so scuffed and also to get flat tops for a bit of compression). Cam/lifters/gaskets/etc. I figure this will be ~$1500-2k.

#4 - My buddy has an LQ4 6.0 they pulled from his son's 2500HD with 197k miles on it. I 100% trust him, he's a good dude. Said it ran great but burned oil. I'd dial-bore it, clean the block myself, dingleball hone/bearings/rings/cam bearings/etc. Same deal, buy some flat top pistons, cam/lifters/gaskets. I figure this would be ~$2k-2500

#5 - I'm waiting to see what my junkyard guy says. I bought the motor for the C10 from him, he showed me videos of him driving the Envoy prior to pulling, he does that for most all his engines if they're good. My buddy bought a 5.3 from him last year for his OBS and it's great. If he's got a lower mile LQ4/LQ9 that I can either hear running or if he's got videos of, I'm good with that. He's got a 30day warranty on it and would take care of me if it had an issue on fire up. I assume he'd want $1200-1800 depending on mileage, I'd just slip a cam in, reseal it and go on this one. So ~$2-2500 on this as well.

If my junkyard guy has a good 6.0 that he can prove ran good/quiet/has good oil pressure, that's the route I'll likely go cuz it's fastest. Otherwise, I'm leaning toward #4 if I've gotta go through a whole motor. At least I can do that myself and save a grand over the iron 5.7.

 

[Hunter79764]

In your shoes, I'd probably go 4, 5, 3, 1, 2. I wouldn't pay to stay at 5.3 if the extra displacement was available from a factory 6.0, I'd probably be more inclined to do the buddy's 6.0 vs junkyard, just because knowing the history is nice. Can you run an oil level switch in the pan to a warning light and just run it as-is for a while to get more cash together, or do you want to make this your "Forever Engine"?