95ONE

Yep. I of course had to go over it. I pulled the pan, didn't see anything, but there are a lot of places for little things like that to hide. I just cleaned as best I could. I popped that one piston out and cleaned it, Checked the rings again, cleaned all that using compressed air and cleaner solvent. Re-oiled and installed. I am NOT re doing the motor. The scratch is barely there. Just little enough to have hope. The color is misleading and truly looks worse than it is. Fingers crossed. Otherwise, I will buy a 418 C.I. motor from Texas performance and replace it if I have to. But only after beating on the crippled motor for about 6 months.


T.U.

333pg333

Damn, that's a bummer Bruce, Bastard specs of metal!

eclou

Bruce why not update to the LS6 style PCV system? I have seen very little oil consumption on mine and no smoking in corners

95ONE

I might be on the whiny side because of all my hard work. I'm starting to lighten up and have high hopes. I'll swear, rant and rave later if it doesn't make full compression.

Dry sump. Has to be completely sealed. There is no PVC anything. Just vacuum.

TonyG

If you know there's an issue now... just bite the bullet and fix the one cylinder. It's so easy now vs later. Yeah... later you'll be so pissed the engine will just sit for months before you get over it.

Just sayin....

TonyG

reno808

How would you fix just that one cylinder

odurandina

i think he should leave it alone... or maybe go .005 over ? or maybe bore all 8 .005 over.

if you only did that one, would one cylinder making slightly more power cause a problem ?

TonyG

I'm not sure which block he's using, but there is a process to hone the bore.

TonyG

eclou

I figured you were already on top of it

95ONE

I'm trying to be. (gene's comment.)

I have gotten other knowledgeable souls in on the scratch issue. It's been agreed. It is going to stay. It probably won't show any signs of distress. If it does, it might be a 5-10psi leak at it's worst. Not enough to warrant a complete tear down and complete re-spec of everything I have done.

The real finishing touch on the decision was that I will have a better excuse to get a 418 Cubic Inch motor sooner. If it is indeed a terrible leak, I will just tear it down and replace, but the collective knowledge of my peers deem it has a great chance of success. I'm going with that for now.

It's a 2004 block out of a Suburban that started life with Gen IV architecture and Gen III components. 5.3 Liter L33.

odurandina

i was on the phone with Jake at TSP during my lunch hour today...

finally getting mine done, and it will be their 418 c.i. w/ a mild cam.

he convinced my it would run well for a long time.

finally.

http://www.texas-speed.com/p-302-tsp...ong-block.aspx

95ONE

Yep, I would just buy one from them instead of building it myself. Jake, Matt, all those guys are pretty decent.

What's this word you speak of ? "mild?"

EDIT: OH>> you're buying the LONG block!? Then why the hell are you getting a mild cam?! You are truly leaving a lot on the table.
Everything included in that package can handle a very strong cam. You don't have to get an earth shattering one, but at least a Tsunami or something like that? (more duration for the stroker though)


Is this your only car? If so, then I understand the need for something more tame than a cam with mountains ground in, but don't cut yourself short. I've read many of your posts and you seem pretty logical. I'm guessing you did quite a bit of research before you started, but you know how that crack pipe of speed is. You'll be used to the power in no time flat and wishing for more.

odurandina

i had been researching transmission mods starting in the fall of 2007. in the fall of 2009, over the phone, Tony G. took a lot of time to explain to me the more technical aspects of the swap. he has a totally awesome attitude about helping people with this stuff. i'm very grateful for the help he, Rob (XSChop), Eric Hill, and Van have offered over the past few months.




yes indeed...

yes, this is my only car....

i'll have the use of another driver while the 968 isn't running.... and provided Van can free up his schedule, he'll be performing the swap, probably with my help as an extra set of hands installing the engine.

i wanted an engine that would make for a very quiet street car with a near-stock smooth idle... i'll be running the big magnaflow in concert with a resonator... also with the tall 5th and 6th, i'd be running the engine between 2,000 and 2,800 rpm about 95~98 % of the time, and didn't want it to run rough up into in that range. so i'll just run a cam that makes about 20~30 hp.

still, w/ the large displacement, it was explained to me that despite the stock GM manifold being a much better design than their previous manifolds, i'd still be needing to run the Fast for the high flow setup...add their ported heads and a good exhaust and it should produce a pretty good street car.

we're expecting to see at least 530~540 at the crank, depending on what my exhaust can do (maybe even a bit higher ?). i'm running Eric's 1 3/4" long tubes and heeding Tony G's advice about building a very fat Y-pipe.... then it'll graduate down to 3 1/2" then the resonator and finally 3" pipe... should still allow for a lot of power...


btw, i f ucked up with my transmission build. i should have purchased Raj's LSD before installing the tall gears. i thought i could just go back to my installer and install the LSD in the *** end of the box.... turns out he has to take apart the entire transmission all over again. so much of the labor he did the first time around (4 hundred bucks) installing the gears was wasted.

dumb.



.

odurandina

even with Eric's bumpsteer kit, the Fast is a huge manifold. so, i'll be needing to get involved with modifying the hood... first i'll need to eliminate the center frame section (which would necessitate adding strength elsewhere). next, i might need to fabricate a riser...


easy solution;

Doc mentioned on my LSx thread that Tony cut out the hood frame there. i could go that route with the stock hood and cut out the center frame section, then i'll be left with needing to brace the hood away from the intake. that won't be too hard, maybe just run two pairs of cf tubing along the inside, and laminate another complete layer on the outside... something like this should add sufficient strength to the hood.


exotic solution;

everyone wants a lightweight hood that works properly. there's a good reason you don't see a lot of carbon fiber hoods. still, would sure like to make one.... my strategy would be to get a hold of a second 968 hood and strip it down to the 3 critical pieces.... but before doing that, i would use it as a mold to construct a pretty stiff top by laminating several layers of epoxy resin, standard glass cloth and cf... epoxy is way more expensive and complicated to work with than polyester resin. and just using 3 or 4 sheets of cf would be getting very expensive so, i might have 4 sheets of cf laminated between 5 sheets of glass... also, epoxy is extremely toxic. but there's no reason to bother doing anything if you're not planning to use epoxy and at least some cf... next, mating a pair of cf tubes to run the perimeter and then attach the critical pieces... if i can pull this off, i'd still probably not have enough space to run a strut brace (after Van has completed his work)... but, it will be one hell of a nice hood.


third option;

it's much easier to begin with a ready-made sheet of plastic so the idea would be to combine a GT Racing hood with the critical parts from a stock hood frame and leave a cutout for the Fast... this would probably require mating a pair of cf tubes to run the perimeter and a couple of sheets of cf to stifen it for street driving. (i've heard the GT Racing body parts aren't close enough to spec to use for a street car) so a lot of modding might be required to bolt to the car as if it were stock....



i should be able to make this up using cf/glass/epoxy and parts of a stock hood.



.

odurandina

Bruce and you all,

you know a lot about engines so.... what do you think about this one ? i've been back and forth the past two weeks with getting a high displacement, blueprinted motor vs scaling back to an LS3 crate with a mild cam kit... but this one came along and the price is really good. i have to admit i've been taken aback by the costs of running a larger, bored and stroked engine. by the time you get everything on, you're close to $14 K...

so, i'm very tempted to get this. an LS2 would be pretty good for a 3,000 lb street car just running a very mild cam... the thing i don't like about it, is there doesn't seem to be a decent story for how this came to be available. it's only 364 cubic inches, so it won't offer 190 + top speed, but it has the LS3 heads (is that an LS3 tb/intake ?) but it's 3 grand less than an LS3 crate motor. it's amazing how much less LS2s sell for now....

should i get it ?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/chevrolet-LS...87e47d&vxp=mtr