I'm considering rebuilding the 5.7 in my 95 K1500 next year. It's got 436000km on it, as far as I know its original but I can't be sure. Only reason I'm really considering it is that I'm back in school for auto tech again in January and since the course deals almost exclusively on engine rebuilding,we can bring in our own and do the work in school.All the mahining equipment is there for us to use and its free of charge, only have to pay for parts. If I'm going to do it, this would be the time.

The trucks got pretty tall gears in it, I'm thinking around 3.55,so she's no speed demon and doesn't care much for pulling. I wouldn't mind getting a smidge more power out of it,as long as I didn't sacrifice too much fuel economy.It does pretty decent on the highway now,which is a big plus. I looked up some rebuild kits online and prices vary widely. Are the Summit kits any good? They seem to be cheapest,followed by DNJ, but I have no idea if they are worth having. I know there's some real engine/vehicle guru's here so I thought I'd toss it out there.Any advice is welcome and appreciatted.

summit will work fine for what you want to do.

4 bolt mains,.....forged crank,...

Summit has been selling engine rebuild kits for 20+ years. Must be something good about them.

44henry

Ah... no.

Two bolt mains, cast crank. One piece rear seal. Roller cam. Powder metal rods...

recipe for a blow up.

Bull...

We put out 4100 engines built like that.... a day.

okay,...just don't run'em past 10 to 1.

You'll be spittin' rods all to here and gone.

I seriously cannot comprehend how anyone would enjoy wrenching on cars. I know that theres plenty of gearheads out there but i seriously dont get it, i would rather help a friend move. Good luck though.

Was it '95 or '96 in the 350's that there was the intake manifold issues? Ours is a 96 and had to have the intake gaskets replaced at 85K. Have had no issues since then and now have 120K on it. Momma's truck so is well taken care of, believe me. Don't know what we had to do when it comes times to replace it because she is vertically challenged and likes how she can adjust the seat.....

Back then even Corvette engines didn't run 10/1

The intake manifold gasket material would deteriate and leak with age.

Are you sure that the truck motors in 95 had the roller cam? was it 94 that started the Vortec engine? or is this a TBI engine?

I guess its the idea of taking an engine apart, putting it all back together and not having any extra parts left over.

The real bonus is that it runs...

if it is a Vortec engine... bump compression up to 9:1 add a decent set of headers a MILD cam, clean up the heads just a bit and it will really wake that thing up

A Summit kit will do just fine. I'm gathering that you are just looking to refresh the old girl for another couple hundred K. Just realize that it is what it is and that it's no 400hp hi cranking street rod. What Bristoe was eluding to is if your looking for real horsepower you may want to go with a four bolt main bearing caps so things don't walk around at high RPM's. If it will be a daily driver two bolt will do. I had good luck running 3.73:1 gears in my old Chevy, Richmonds if memory serves me correctly
My 350 had four bolt mains, forged crank that was turned balanced and blueprinted as well as the rest of the motor. Keith Jackson rods and pistons 11:1. 202 heads semi domed with a 7 angle valve job, rolled rods and rockers and a 280 lift cam and a Holley 750 dbl pumper jetted down to be streetable. I had that in a '85 Chevy Silverado short box 2WD with a TH400 that was built with a B&M slap shifter on the floor. It was fun but went down the road when I grew up a bit.

I wouldn't buy a thing 'til you tear down.

Degrease, and magnaflux the block, and heads. If they're good, determine any maching that will be needed. I'd square the block, then line-bore, and probably cylinders bored. Only thing you'll have to determine is if the old crank is OK, needs turning - or replacemant. Do that prior to machining.

If you're lookin' for more "umff", without sacrificng economy, concentrate on losing friction. Consider a Roller cam, and lifters, chit-can the distributor, and run crank-fired ingnition (just behind the harmonic dampner). Ditto on the fuel pump; chit can the crank-driven pump, and go electric.

Throw a new set of pistons, and these in, and smile.

I'm a little rusty on the year, I believe that the only engines we built with flat tappets at that time were for marine applications. They were the last to convert to a roller cam.

Be sure to pay attention to the valve guides and preferably have rotating valve retainers and umbrella type oil control seals (roller rockers are a good investment if you are going to run the vehicle for a LONG time...

We did more Chevy heads (prolly 5-10 sets of heads a week) in my Dad's engine shop back in Erie, Pa than all others heads combined for those 2 reasons.

If $$ is a problem, perhaps look into "knurlizing" (a spiral thread sort of process that is then reamed to proper i.d.) the guides, this works well if the machinist is competent and again use umbrella type valve seals rather than the simple valve stem O-rings just under the valve keepers.

Chevy seemed to have excessive lateral pressure that prematurely wore guides... Either way you can find a process to fit your wallet, I would bet.

Full disclosure - This info dates from the 60's when I started working at 11 years of age, to the mid 1975, when my Father passed and the unfortunately shop closed. Perhaps Chevy changed the design and geometry since then... If so, please forgive my ignorance of a solution. Have fun.

Be safe and good luck
Patty

The FBody LT1's did alright and were a touch over 10:1 through 1997.

Pretty sure the Vette LT1's would have been a hair over 10:1 through 1996 as well. LT4's were even higher.

And by '96 even marine engines were equipped with roller cams.

I rebuilt the motor in my old 92 1500. it was a TBI engine. raise the compression to 9.25:1 a set of Headman Headers, ported and polished the heads added a Comp Cams Cam kit to it. It pulled great up to about 4000rpms then fell flat on its face anything more than that and it was just making noise and wasting gas...... But it did sound good. IMO the cam was a total waste of $400

Oh, if the ol' girl doesn't have an electric fan for the radiator - get one. Ridding the engine of that damn fan frees up 15 hp, and provides a nice bump in economy.

Ya know we took the rotating valve caps off the exhaust valves around '96...

You ever seen a set of Ford 3.0 or 3.8 heads?? I bet we did 10 sets of those a week



These engines also had Aluminium heads which disapates heat better and reduced detonation

what ever chevy aspires to be.

Indeed there is no replacement for displacement.......

Thats the 2nd time I have said that this week. I bet its been 8 years since I said that before this week..

I have a 98 Chevy 350 and it had to have the intake gasket replaced at something like 90K miles.

LT-4's also had Crane roller rocker arms...

6:1 ratio/ 10mm studs. Those were kept under lock and key.

Three different Summit kits have worked good here over the years. Due to lack of zinc in modern oil, I would consider a roller cam setup - unless you will use a zinc additive.

I believe that was in 96 with the introduction of the Vortec, although they may have started in 95 with that engine already. I never thought I'd be a mechanic, but now that I'm doing it it's not so bad I guess. Lots of frustration and cussing involved, but it pays the bills.

IIRC the V-8 Vortex truck engine was introduced in '96, it was designated a Gen1-E engine. By then all V-8 blocks were machined to accept either a flat tappet or a roller cam. That change was made in conjunction with the 1 piece rear seal and the high rail heads.

The true Vortex engines have the extra coolant tubes that run to the back of the heads.

I don't know about a lack of ZDDP in oil, I use this stuff in my old 1976 van with a 1985 350 in it: http://www.amsoil.com/storefront/aro.aspx It has a high dose of ZDDP and a TBN of 12.1. Or how about this one designed for flat-tappet cams http://www.amsoil.com/storefront/zrf.aspx

Run this stuff in my DuraMax diesel: http://www.amsoil.com/storefront/hdd.aspx It too has a high ZPPD content and a TBN of 12.1. I run it two years or minimum 25k miles before changing, with oil analysis, even then it has a lot of life left.

There are plenty of oils available with zinc. They just cost more and aren't compatible with the API CJ-4 specification.

Nice engine porn. When I drag raced down in San Angelo TX my buddies would use the adage "The only thing that beats cubic inches is cubic dollars." That looks like both to me. Not sure the OP is looking for all that but I enjoyed the pic!

May not translate to today, but 20 years ago a buddy rebuilt two 350 pickup motors and both gave good performance and decent fuel mileage.

First one was pretty much just a stock rebuild on a 2 bolt '76 half ton motor w/2bbl carb: rings, bearings, seals, etc, plus a new TRW RV Grind cam. Heads were surfaced, valve job w/knurled guides. I had that truck for years and it ran like a bear, had plenty of climbing power.

There is a long, steep hill up near Williamsport, PA on the route that we commonly traveled to my hunting camp. As-issued, that truck would kick into passing gear about 1/3 of the way up that long grind, to maintain 55-60MPH.

First trip up with the "new" motor, it climbed that hill @ 60MPH and never kicked into passing gear. I enjoyed the hell out of that little truck, while I owned it.

Same buddy later built a 4 bolt 350 for his truck, but added new pistons, rods and a similar RV grind cam. That one was also pretty stout.

Only problem he ever had with that motor, was oil "drain by" on the valve guides at about 90K miles after the rebuild. He'd asked the shop to install bronze valve guides when they redid the heads, instead of just knurling them, but they f'd that part up and forgot the bronze guides, went with the common knurl process.

No biggie, as that motor ran for well over 200K afterwards when he sold the truck and it was still on the road at 350+.

My '95 was a throttle body.

With 270,000 miles on the engine, it might need to have the cylinders bored. If you want more power, I'd look at making it a 383 with a stroker kit. I think the block needs a few modifications to make the long stroke crank fit, but any good engine machine shop should be able to do it when they're boring the block.

with that kind of mileage i would check to make sure it is re- buildable like someone else said if the crank needs replaced it might just be cheaper to buy a crate engine even with the freebies you get with your shop class

gene

I currently work part time at my family's engine shop doing cylinder heads and some other miscellaneous work. I worked there full time for over ten years doing the same work. I am 3rd generation.

You are limited on the power you can put into the engine with the rods, crank, and two bolt main block. Upgrading all three will cost a lot of money.

Cheap, poor quality components and sloppy work will make the engine worse and it will not run very long like it did.

With the mileage your engine has a simple rebuild will give you some more power.


*My suggestion for an every day runner and light tower:

-Disassemble and check that all major components are usable first.

-*Buy a quality kit from a local and respected engine shop, *not a part timer*, *a company that people make their living at*. Also since you buy the kit off of them they may answer some questions you may have and give suggestions.

-Put a *slightly better cam in the engine.(A major change may cause computer issues.)

-Put new ARP bolts in the rods and mains.

-Do a multi-angle valve job on the heads and *lightly lap the new valves or fresh ground valves. Surface the heads. Put new springs that match the cam on the heads installed to the correct height. Maybe put new, quality, stainless, spiral flowed, undercut valves in the heads also. *Do not knurl the guides; if they are bad put new guides in and ream to proper clearance, not too loose or too rough but enough clearance. *Do not use umbrella seals; *use positive type seals on the heads, preferably metal clad type as they last and function a long time.

-Bore the block .030 or .040(.060" is max). Use quality pistons with stock compression; no need for ridiculously expensive for this application. *Make sure the bores are perfect on size and *finish for the rings being used. Check ring gaps.

-*Use Clevite bearings.

-*Do not make the mistake of using synthetic oil until the engine is broken in. Break the engine in until you horse on it.

-Maybe upgrade the rockers. If they are bad then when buying new buy quality roller or roller tip rockers.


This will give you an engine that is fresh, slightly larger cubic inch due to boring, slightly better cam, and slightly better heads, all for a little more power over a new stock engine.

The rods, two bolt mains, and cast crank are the weak links for a more powerful engine, in that order along with the computer to tune a more significant engine change.

I'm considering going to a late model (2003-up) 5.3L for my 1990 K5 5.7 Tbi, big boost in HP, about 90hp & better gas mileage to boot!

check this out
google = 5.3L turnkey reno 4x4

Use Fel-Pro gaskets...

doesn't pay to go cheap on gaskets or bearings.

Nope...

That's why we're still having issues with leaky intake manifold gaskets.

Your unique situation w/ the school's machine shop makes rebuilding seem attractive. But my own choice would be to find a deal on a factory crate motor, or at least a long block plus heads, brand-new. Lots of HP choices. That is, if the truck was otherwise worth keeping.

It was mentioned earlier. In your situation, I would be looking at the stroker kit, and a cam perfectly suited to YOUR application. Turning that 350 into a 383 with an appropiate cam will gain you significant torque and horsepower for a pick up application.

3.55 gears in the back is not a bad deal, as long as you are not trying to tow five ton trailers. The proper cam for the application goes a long way toward making your gears work.

For about ten years my "farm truck" was an 84 K5 Blazer. It came with a 305, a four speed manual, and 2.72 gears. I towed a trailer with three cord of wood home from the mountains several times a year, as well as four horses in a stock trailer, and the flatbed with 4 tons of hay on it.

The second year I owned it, I transplanted a 350 into the truck. It came from a 71 Nova and was stock except for the cam.

A local shop had a computer program where they keyed in the application parameters. 2.72 Gears, 255-85-16 tires, four speed tranny, typical tow weight-up to ten thousand pounds, engine size- 350 cid. Then they sold me a cam for the application.

My Blazer got 8% better mileage on the highway, better performance all around, and an incredible increase in torque with the increased cubes, increased compression, and a cam perfectly suited for the application.

Thanks for all the advice guys. I guess we'll see what the situation is in January, if I can do without the truck for a few months maybe I'll tear the engine down and see how it looks. I'm definitley not looking for huge horsepower gains.I believe these motors put out something like 200hp in stock form,so I imagine it wold be considerably less by now. If I could frshen it up and maybe get and extra 25 ponies out of it,or at least some good bottom end torque, I'd be happy with that.

I don't know if that 4L60e in there is original, I can hardly imagine that it is. Either way, I imagine it'll need some attention at some point too, and extra power would only hasten that day. Maybe I can do that on my 3rd year and have a truck that'll last many more years,for relatively cheap.