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Late last year my H/C/I ‘04 Z06 developed a nasty tick during a casual evening drive. I was not easy on the car and bounced it off the rev limiter a few times while dancing around some cones, so I kinda know when it likely initially floated the valves and slammed the lifters on to the cam, and it just degraded quickly from there. Initially I found a loose rocker arm, and noticed the smith bro's trunion bushings had worn badly in only a couple thousand miles, so I replaced them hoping the loose rockers were the cause of the tick. Nope, it made the noise MUCH worse. A peek at the cam lobes after removing the the valley cover showed me a destroyed cam lobe, broken lifter body with a missing chunk, and a few other lobes with nicks where lifters hit the cam after the valve float. While facing a crossroads of replace the parts or a complete rebuild, I decided to dig out my old engine building tools, buy new measuring tools to blueprint the lower end, and give it a go. I did every single part of this myself, aside from the machine work on the block / rotating assembly, and taking the hood off / putting it back on. It was about a 6 week project from pulling the motor and turning the key, and I took my time while being very methodical.
The motor went to a 3.908 bore ( .010 over ). Crank ended up needing.010 / .010 on the journals, rods resized with arp rod bolts, forged icon pistons, Hastings rings, and mahle bearings and gaskets. Fortunately my PRC 225 as cast heads were fine and needed no work.
The motor fired right up and runs excellent, and it’s getting its first oil change tonight at 50 miles. All in I’m at about $2500 in parts and machine work, and have a completely blueprinted and solid motor.
This is pic heavy I know, but they show the process very well and I learned a few lessons along the way that may help others in the future should they need it.
Last edited by CinciZ06; Sep 26, 2022 at 02:07 PM.
LOL on the left side pistons! I would have done the right side for good measure. I love building engines. Not many things more satisfying. Great pics, thanks btw. Engine looks great. Nice work. Beautiful...
Morel 5294’s. I’ll be damned if I’m having another lifter failure! The ls7 style lifter that failed was a morel 6504, but it looks like a few of them turned in the trays when they hit the cam, and that started the disintegration - at least that’s my assumption.
Ok, Dumb question here. If the lifter are linked how do they turn. Does something break? Great looking build. Love all of the pics.
The link bar lifters are almost fail proof in terms of turning in the bore. My lifters that failed were ls7 style with the plastic trays - so maddening. But it was an extremely rewarding project and I’m very proud of it.
For some reason I was under the impression you either had to go out from under the car or take the nose off. Doesn't seem to be the case here. Impressive work.
For some reason I was under the impression you either had to go out from under the car or take the nose off. Doesn't seem to be the case here. Impressive work.
It is all dependent on the engine hoist. I borrowed a 3 ton from a friend, and needed the fender off to get the final two inches of needed clearance. I pulled the motor out with the cradle lowered, and I tried to install the short block the same way. In the end, there was too much interference between the cradle and the engine hoist so the cradle needed to come out. Once I had the needed room, the block slid in to position smooth and easy. The attached engine leveler made getting the block at the right angle a snap. So in the end some harbor freight furniture dollies and a decent jack made the cradle a breeze.
I can tell ya having a two post lift would have made this a painless process if the plan of attack was to remove the entire driveline, which would be my preference if I ever did it again.
It is all dependent on the engine hoist. I borrowed a 3 ton from a friend, and needed the fender off to get the final two inches of needed clearance. I pulled the motor out with the cradle lowered, and I tried to install the short block the same way. In the end, there was too much interference between the cradle and the engine hoist so the cradle needed to come out. Once I had the needed room, the block slid in to position smooth and easy. The attached engine leveler made getting the block at the right angle a snap. So in the end some harbor freight furniture dollies and a decent jack made the cradle a breeze.
I can tell ya having a two post lift would have made this a painless process if the plan of attack was to remove the entire drive line, which would be my preference if I ever did it again.
I have removed and installed my LS from my C5 a couple of times now.
I do have a two post lift and it does make it easier in my opinion BUT I still did it very similar to how you did it. I did not drop the rear end assembly but did go out and in through the bottom on the cradle.
I used my two post lift and a Hydraulic lift table together, finding the correct angle to get the drive shaft in can be a bit of a chore when installing but way easier than installing the Long tube headers afterwords.
I am at a loss as to why you removed the fender? I did not have to do this but its simple enough to remove and install.
I used a 3 ton engine hoist, and the distance between the lifting point and the hydraulic lifting jack was too shallow to reach the engine center point. The fender needed to be removed to gain enough clearance to get to the motor. It is very engine hoist dependent I assume.
I wrapped them myself - that was one of my crap jobs as a teenager in our drag racing group. haha. We built motors and cars to fund our own racing, and the crap jobs like that always fell to me, the youngest. I spent a solid 12 months dealing with fiberglass embedded in my skin before I left for the army.
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Engine rebuild pics and process
When do you want to start on my 416?I am not too far away.
