Yes, the whole bottom end is being done by an experienced builder. I am going to keep everything that I can as long as they are in good shape. Thanks.

 

If you can do the top end and cam you can do the bottom end. Of course the machine shop will have to do the machine work and press on the rods but the rest is just taking time and measuring. Of course if they don't charge much it sure is nice to get a finished shortblock back with all the measuring and assembly already done.

 

I would bore it 30 over no matter, it's a 35 year old motor. Get them to check everything maybe deck it a few thou. to get a flat surface your looking at only a couple hundred for machine work.

Get them to check the crank and rods and buy the Speedpro pistons for about $200 or less.

 

Ok so I'm not convinced that the Chip off the Piston is cause of the low compression. It would of been nice to put some Oil in the Cylinder and re check the compression to see if it improved. What You can do now is to turn the head up side down and fill it with liquid, and see if it all runs past the Valves. If it runs past in this cylinder but not the rest there might not be as much wrong as you think. If your plan is to build a performance engine by all means rebuild it. Since You will end up, Boring the Cylinders, Decking the Block and knocking off Your serial numbers, machining the Rods, turning the Crank and everything else You may consider just buying a new Short Block. But since You sound as though You want to keep things stock You might just replace the one Piston. That could be done with out removing the Short Block. You would have to ball hone the one Cylinder and deal with its contaminates, but it could be done and has been done many times before.

 

Another thought is to pull the oil pan off and pull the Piston- Rod out and have a better look at it. If Your going to re do the whole thing anyway its not much more work.

 

I did put some oil in the #6 piston when I did the compression check and the compression went from 90 to 125 PSI so looks like the piston was the problem, but hoping it was not. All the measurements of the block will be checked by the builder (that is not something I was prepared to do) and the plan now is to reuse the other 7 TRW factory pistons and to replace the bad piston with a replacement TRW piston for the engine. The cylinders will all be honed and re ringed. Boring will depend on the condition of the cylinders-.030 if necessary. The plan is NOT to deck the block unless absolutely necessary, and if necessary, it will be decked preserving the block stamp plate and numbers-that is a MUST! All the bearings will be replaced reusing the L-82 rods and crank. The whole assembly will be balanced and then rebalanced with the clutch and flywheel attached. I will reassemble the top end with the Howards roller cam and AFR 180 65 CC heads etc. This rebuild is a restoration with performance enhancements and will not be revved above 5,500 RPM and then only very occasionally. Short block going to the builder on Monday, March 31st. The plan this week is to take the oil pan off and take pictures of everything-crank, rods, cam-still need to remove L-82 cam and some other ancillary items as well as the timing chain and gears.

 

I am not so sure about the boring especially after seeing the condition of the cam/lifters (they look brand new) and the condition of the oil galley which looked also brand new. BTW-The clutch and flywheel which are also original also look excellent-the clutch looks like it has 60-70% life left in it but I am replacing since the engine is out. If it was a base L-48 and automatic, I would bore it in a second, but not so fast on a 66,000 mile L-82 4 speed if it doesn't have to be. Remember this car is basically a cruiser now with very rare high speed blasts.

 

I didn't bore out my L-48 rebuild. All the cylinders were well within spec for size, taper and roundness. No problems with the piston clearance or the compression on rebuild. Just ball hone and new rings and pistons.

 

That's what I would do, you can do what you like but get an opinion from the machine shop, if he says it needs to be bored then ask him why, after 35 years I would be surprised if it didn't need it done especially with a broken land on a piston.

 

if the walls don't have a lot of wear i think you could safely just re hone the bores. use file fit rings it may be extra insurance
i would also pull all the plugs out and run rifle brushes thru all the galleys, just more insurance. you can't make it too clean. its your chance to get any trash out of the block.

 

I did speak with the builder about just honing and re ringing and showed him some pictures on my phone. He needs to see it obviously but did say a hone, re ring, and replacing the 1 piston is very possible considering the condition of the rest of the engine. The block is going to be hot tanked as well. It should come back completely clean and ready to go. If it needs to be bored that is what I will do but only if necessary. Decking will most likely not need to be done, ditto torque plate-neither which I want done. It's a street engine, again, being restored with some performance enhancements-AFR heads and roller cam. Some time this week, I will spin it over on the engine stand and document everything before the rebuild with pictures-just to be sure. I did see today that it does have the 4 bolt mains-thankfully-since I have heard of folks with L-82's with 2 bolt mains and L-48's with 4 bolt mains. So far so good-engine code and trans code match VIN. I bought a 100% OEM L-82 4 speed in 1983 and everything is just that original.

 

Just an update! Pictures tomorrow.

The L-82 short block is back from the builder and looks great. I put the AFR 180 65 CC heads on the block on Saturday, measured the pushrods (7.15 ordered and should arrive Wednesday), Howards rollers cam (.525/.525, Duratio 219/225, LSA110) is installed and degreed. New Melling Standard Volume/Standard pressure oil pump, new AC delco fuel pump, new Ram clutch, reconditioned L-82 rods, polished L-82 crank, JE Forged 9:1 pistons, .015 Felpro Head Gasket, new bearings. Block NOT decked (bored .030), New Balancer, ARP bolts. Whole Assembly balanced without clutch and with clutch on Flywheel (resurfaced). Going to try and get everything else on the outside of engine this week (valve train assembled as well) and hoping for an install this weekend. Builder has offered to come to my house to check everything, install distributor, and fire her up once installed. Going……….

 

Awesome. Please report back on the AFR, Roller cam upgrade. That cam is one I really like, let us know how it performs with your setup.

 

L-82 Back to Life:

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So let me get this straight...you want a stock look so you ruled out an aftermarket intake, you wanted to re-use crank and rods so 383 was out, but aluminum heads, headers and dual exhaust are ok ??? At a minimum I would have decked the block to true zero, put a 6 inch Scat rod in it, and set compression at 10.5, then ported the snot out of the L82 intake and had someone like SMI or Cliff Ruggles do the carb and distributor. You left power on the table that wouldn't have affected reliability for sure.

 

the only issue as far as I'm concerned is the intake. paint anything short of a tunnel ram blue and it would look stock. but you have bare aluminum heads so there goes the stock look.but still , you should have a good running engine. the bump in compression alone will help more than you think. i think you will be happy happy happy.

 

That sounds like a great combination. Very similar to what I'm building. Can't wait to see what she runs like.

 

You guys are the best! Ok here we go:

Back to the original intent: get as much power as possible from a the original L-82 block with the basic look of an L-82 and rotating mass with the exception of the heads and the cam.If I painted the heads blue, it would really look stock but I decided to go bare aluminum since most know the 882 heads are crap. Compression should be 10-10.2:1, pretty much the limit for pump gas and maximum timing. Can you go higher, probably, but for my application-perfect!

As far as decking the block, from more than one source and the engine builder himself: NOT necessary on a street engine rarely seeing over 5,000 RPM as long as the deck is straight-It is!A radical 350 pushing 6,500+ RPM requires a decking if not 100% absolutely straight.

Headers and 2.5 inch duals not being stock-give me a break!

As for the L-82 intake, multiple sources on this one again including the engine builder: a more radical roller cam turning 6,500+ RPM, yes, an aftermarket intake will make a difference. NOT on my combo-very little difference. The intake is 100% cleaned and allows the dual snorkel GM air cleaner assembly-NOT possible with any aftermarket intake. If when the engine is broken in thoroughly, carb tuned, and gets on the dyno, if the engine makes 400-425 Gross HP, intake stays as is. If not, intake porting could be in the future. If the L-82 intake costs 5-8 HP, who cares?

Something to think about: Karols 78 L-82 4 speed with 3.70 gears made 248 RWHP on the SAME dyno with under drive pulleys, Edelbrock Performer intake, 882 heads, Quadrajet, and an aftermarket flat tappet cam versus my 233 RWHP with L-82 intake, L-82 cam, 882 heads, poor compression on Cylinder 6 as well as broken rings on the other cylinders (much more to this story during the teardown), Holley 4175, etc. Think about that?-15 HP for a cam and intake versus an L-82 NOT running at 100%. The difference if it was apples to apples was probably <10 HP for the aftermarket cam and Edlebrock Performer-Again, give me a break!

We will see.

 

Probably just shows the stock heads are terrible and no cam can help make power without a head upgrade.

Interesting build, sounds like it'll have a very broad power band.

 

the L-82 cam is the last thing someone should change on that engine until the heads and exhaust have been upgraded.
the 882 heads with the 2.02 valves flowed reasonably well the issue was the chamber, it was too big for decent compression and compression is what the L-82 cam needs to make its power.i agree 10-1 compression is about ideal with these engines . if i could recommend 1 change that is a must do on the L-82 it would be some 64 cc aftermarket heads.the o.p will be very pleased with what he has done. did he leave power on the table? certainly, but its low hanging fruit now and after a while my bet is he goes back for it. i have a good idea of the power level and I'm waiting to see how much fun he has driving it.