Car decided it likes Chocolate shakes... going to rebuild

[TABR]

Just venting a bit...
Looking at the oil yesterday I noticed that it looks like a mike shake was added as a new form of lube. So it is now sitting in the driveway awaiting a new heart. I don't have any lofty HP goals for a rebuild, I am thinking of re-using as much as I can while adding ARP studs to the connecting rods, only boring it to a 355 if I have to and generally keeping it as low $ as I can. The one option I am on the fence about is the cam. I have a bit to decide because the engine is still in the car but I keep reading about cam swaps and the price just keeps going up..so we will see if that gets added.

I have only driven the car maybe 1500 since I bought it, I planned on a rebuild but was hoping to get a solid year out of it. I know I could just do head gaskets, but the car has almost 200K miles and I figure even if I did just the head gaskets, the block may as well be on the back end of its life as well so rebuild now while things are still together LOL..

Any pros or cons on the "rebuild kits"? or can you get better parts for just a bit more buying them one at a time?

[AdamG]

My cam swap wasnt to bad. it cost me about 300 for the cam cc502, 150 for the rocker, and about 150 for the valve springs. I did mine on rebuilt as well and you have to figure your going to have to replace the timing chain and all the gaskets any way so.

[TABR]

Ya no way do I trust a 200K mile timing chain for a rebuild, and all new gaskets are a given ( hell ya no more leaks! LOL ). SO you ran the 502 with SA rockers? any issues? no guide plates / hardened push rods? 7/8 studs?

And a local guy does have a "corvette" Lt1 that was rebuilt and "upgraded by a shop. As to what upgrades I don't know. The guy has been sitting on the motor for a few years, not running it, and cannot say what the upgrades were. no accessories. But I question if that should really be an option as I do not know any of the parts that were used.. it could be a steal, or more issues..

[AdamG]

Well when I did my rebuild i went completely stock on the lower end. I had 100k on my motor but i had oil pressure issues. So I decided to rebuild the motor rather then try and chase the issue. i let the machine shop tear down the bottom end and they were impressed with the shape of the motor actually The bore tapper was damn near almost perfect he said the only indication of any problems was the cam bearings looked a little warn but weren't horrible so we were never actually sure what the problem was. I also had a cracked piston which they concluded was due to a defect in the piston. they replaced the one piston with an oem and made sure they were all the same weight. my lower end is all stock. A lot of guys like to up the compression on a rebuild.

As for my top end he looked at the heads and said they were with in spec so i just took them home and did the work my self. The valves springs i used a howards cams valve spring with the dampener removed. these springs were recommended by lloyed elliot and he also recommended the removal of the dampener. these springs use the stock seats, retainers, and locks. I forgot the exact number on the springs but I'm sure lloyed can hook you up or i can look around for the receipt. I'm running SA magnum rockers on the stock studs. I'm also running the stock 95 push rods. However I know the 95 came from the factory with hardened push rods. I don't believe the 97 did so you may want to consult someone more knowledgeable.

the set up has 10k on it and has run flawlessly. The cam and springs aren't supper aggressive though if i went with a cc503 i would have replaced the pushrods which i will do any way when I take the head back off to have ported in a few years. I would also beef up the stud for the rocker if i was going with a bigger cam with heavier springs. But with these springs and this cam the setup is fine. I also ran it across a few pros before i put it together as well.

I would think long and hard about this before you do it though. I personally like the cc502 but if i did it again id probably get lloyd elliot to grind me a custom cam though im sure it would be close to what i have. But you dont want to wast a ton of money on a cam setup your not going to be happy with. I built my car for a fun street car something to have fun cruising on a sat afternoon. If your looking for more of a track oriented car you may want to go with a bigger cam.

[TABR]

thanks for the input. It will be cruising car and I don't really see myself heading to the track, its been 10 years since my last trip out. I am looking for a solid runner with more kick than stock, along with being able to at least run with new cars. LOL and I keep thinking " well I know I am replacing this.. why not get XYZ done and don't worry about it again".

[xdeified]

I know what you mean. Bought my first camaro with blown head gaskets. Starting working and was one of those "if I'm this far in, mind as well do..." I went from a simple 503 can swap to ported heads, custom grind, built bottom end, trans swap, replaced kmember, list goes on and on. So if your in the same boat as me, expect a lot of xyz!

[TABR]

Ya.. I think I have my plan of attack down, but some of it depends on what I see after I pull the engine. I am hoping to have it out this coming Sat so I can start pulling it apart to see what NEEDS to get done vs what I want done. I am hoping to have it all done within a few months.. I did just have to pay $2700 to get the air condition in the house back working... so that changed a few plans LOL.

[AdamG]

I know what you mean. Bought my first camaro with blown head gaskets. Starting working and was one of those "if I'm this far in, mind as well do..." I went from a simple 503 can swap to ported heads, custom grind, built bottom end, trans swap, replaced kmember, list goes on and on. So if your in the same boat as me, expect a lot of xyz!

I did the exact opposite. I had huge plans then I went and priced every thing out and saw how much it was all gonna be and then went really modest on the build.