stevieturbo

If the bore is in ok condition, you could just do a quick hone and throw in a set of pistons/rings. ( not stock pistons )

But at this stage, rods/pistons would make sense.

or as you say, throw a shortblock in there

TX Z06 02

Man this is like looking in a mirror. Currently going through the same issues with mine after just 4k miles boosted. I had major fueling issues this year where twice at the track I would lose fuel midway through 2nd gear. I'm pretty sure i know exactly what happened - same as yours. Mine has low compression on #1 and higher leakdown on #1, 4, 8.

Tops of pistons and cylinder walls look great. Heads look great.

Need to get the engine out and start disassembling.

tommypenguin

Please feel free to weigh in on what I'm planning. My number one goal is durability, which is why I'm going larger on the pulley from 3.6 to 4.0 and going with an overbuilt short block. I also don't want to have to upgrade fuel. At a mile high elevation on the 3.6 pulley with meth I was out of fuel at 6k and had to put fuel cutoff at 6100rpm.

I now live at only 1000asl and would be drastically out of fuel with comparable boost.

After much research the best solution I have came to is purchasing a iron 5.3 block stage 3 shortblock from thompson motorsports. They offer a 12month/unlimited mile warranty and seem to be a reputable company based on reviews I read on ls1tech. Thanks blackmachdown for the suggestion. The block will come preassembled balanced, with all machine work done. Specs are in the link below. I'm going to run -10cc pistons on the stock stroke.

http://www.thompsonmotorsports.net/product_info.php?products_id=8{7}12{3}12 {65}1{2}12{9}90{6}1{1}12

I will reuse my 243 heads with behive springs, LS7 lifters, stock rockers and will have them cleaned and decked even though they were just refreshed 6k ago. Then slap on some arp studs and go with stock head gaskets. and my 220/220 cam.

Long story short I damaged my fidanza fly wheel when removing a flywheel bolt. I have a fidanza clutch. I'm planning on replacing the damage flywheel with another fidanza, however it's only a couple more hundred two do a different clutch/flywheel such as monster. Entertaining the idea of doing that. Will plan on having the flywheel/clutch balanced whichever option I select. Will also measure for shims if needed.

Need to order a new crank pinning kit and likely a new crank pulley to be safe such as ATI.

Lastly my powersteering pump has been a little squeaky when cranking the wheel for a long time am planning on replacing with stock and the ls2 pulley. I don't think the turn one pump is worth it but perhaps I'm mistaken.

Let me know your thoughts on any or all of what I'm planning. I'm a student of the game and have a lot to learn when it comes to motor builds and drive train. Thanks for the suggestions.

Thompson Motorsports

tommypenguin, We would love the opportunity to help you with this. We do have an aluminum all forged 5.3 on the shelf as well if it helps, That will get you around our 8 week current build time. If I can help you with anything please do not hesitate to ask!
Thank you,
Kyle
972-853-2450

silver408z

Sounds like you have a plan on things to do but I would probably find a way to add some fuel. You don't want to be on the edge of the fuel capabilities.

tommypenguin

Here is another update, feels like deja vu. Literally days before placing an order with TMS I found out I'm having my second child. Found out I was having the first child the day I pulled my motor the first time preventing the forged build at that time.

tommypenguin

Finally pulled the trigger on some plans. This project has turned out to be a lot bigger than originally anticipated but most motor builds are. Couldn’t in good conscience cheap out again and likely walk back into the same scenario a year down the road. My LS6 block is at the machine shop, got bored .005 and I went with some lunati dished pistons. Also picked up a set of Lunati H beam rods with ARP 2000 bolts. Got ARP Main and Head studs. Sticking with stock crank but using Clevite H Bearings. Going to gap rings to .024 and .026.

My 243 heads need new intake valves as they are too thin now and my guides need to be replaced. In lieu of that I found a set of 317 heads that had just been blasted and surfaced for cheap and picked those up, and put in some pac 1218 springs in them. My compression will be ultra low at 8.1:1 but will easily be able to run pump gas. Going to run the 3.8 pulley, ie 8psi going up from the 3.6 10psi pulley till I can afford to redo my fuel system in a year or two.

Grabbed an ls2 oil pan and a new fidanza fly wheel. Other than that picked up all gaskets, a new melling oil pump. Hoping to have my engine back from the machine shop in a week or two, measure the clutch/flywheel for shim and start getting this thing back together this month.

stevieturbo

8.1 is really low, but you should be able to very safely use 25-30psi boost on pump gas with that.

For 10psi boost ? That's a bit nuts.

tommypenguin

The ultimate plan is to upgrade fuel, go flip drive and then YSI over the next 2-5 years but time and money will not permit that for a while.

In the interim my build will not put up near where I was before and I’m totally ok with that. I’ve spent about 50% of the last 3 years with a car sitting on jack stands, would rather be able to drive it with significantly less power than admire it while it’s on jack stands.

Kingtal0n

1. spraying more water and monitoring EGT would have helped prevent the high temp from damaging the piston.

2. superchargers operating at the level yours does consume approx 100-150 horsepower. So all said and done you were actually closer to 750 + 125~ = 875rwhp, or around 1k bhp

0MVP @ TheRaceEngineShop