Keep up the good work crateampsrock

I like it thanks

 

happy? I am going to warrenty out the new harmonic balancer. Im getting a little vibration at about 1600 rpms... no MIL's... truck runs amazing... you can definetly feel the added uhmmph due to the bigger pistons... I am very pleased that I did not just give up on the truck and trade it in. But I will give advice to anyone who plans on doing the same thing... expect a very large bill... This whole deal cost me about $3000. the short block machine and heads cost me 1500. To do a long block was 2700... I saved some money and reassembled the heads and timing components myself...which was not a fun event. New motor mounts, which list for about $120 apeice. The timing kit was by far the most expensive. I got lucky and found a kit for 300, but that did not include new sprockets. Headbolts cost about $50, head gaskets $80, oil pan gasket $80 timing cover gasket $85, phlenum gaskets $30, oil pump $50, harmonic balancer $75, crank position sensor $60, a\c compressor $220, drier $30, fan clutch $45, upper gasket set $50... plus a few more peices here and there, catalytic converter was $69... I bought new sway arm kits...paint for block and exhaust manifolds, assembly lube, lock-tite... etc. etc... 200 miles on it so far and running great...

 

How times have changed, I remember being able to get a short block done for under 600.. When I had that 5.0 HO rebuilt, balanced and blue printed by Precision in Houston; back then it was only about 900.

 

After reading this I feel like I made the right choice by going out and buying another engine, I thought that the bill would be pretty expensive. I gotta give you credit for putting it back together with no problems. My buddy with his supra is now doing his 3rd rebuild within 500miles. Apparently someone doesn't know how to build an engine.

 

If you know how it’s easy I must admit I have never done a V8 engine and 20 years ago was my last rebuild.

I used to build VW racing engines way way back in the 70's in my garage custom everything heads cranks blocks/case you name it I did it.

I just grabbed a book and learned on my own never blew up one engine.

My favorite engine was a stock 1500cc but blue printed that little thing was a screamer for a small cc engine and smooth as silk.

A V8 I’m sure is harder to do

 

there were a few hiccups of course... The first one was getting the timing chain installed correctly... That was kind of a pain in the ****... Course I took the motor out of the truck in peices... I installed it whole... peice of advice... It was easier to install the motor without the motor mounts. It tried to perch on the mounts before it can be matted... It took me about 2 and a half days to have the truck back together, another half day to weld in all new exhaust, the rest of that day to double check EVERYTHING. Remember... engine assembly lube is your friend... all in all it really wasnt That bad... I wouldnt recommend it done in a driveway. I dont think I used many specialty tools either... Chrysler harmonic balancer puller, micro torque wrench, matco digital 1\2 inch torgue wrench, hoist, engine stand, o and a 14,000 lbs. rotary heavy duty truck lift... O and if you have to do the timing chain, there is a special tool for the chains, its a jig that holds them all together. When you line them up on the primary sprocket, I used tie straps... worked great. You may however want to get a spanner wrench to turn the cams.

 

There is ALOT that can go wrong. first drive home for me was LONG... Every noise I heard freaked me out. Something fell in my back seat and my stomach sank.. Its got 250 miles on it now and im starting to open her up a little more. Being that I didnt replace the cams I dont have as much of a break in period.

 

I would image it did.. think i would be a little paranoid too; after dropping that kind of money and hours worth of labor, tears, sweat, beer... yeah that's the worst feeling in the world to have all that go wrong...

More so if when it does and it's something simple could have done to prevent.. Ive had that happen on my wifes car; lukey for me it was an easy fix just didn't realize it at the time after about 1k curse words later..

Glad you got it back together..

 

Did I mention the fact thats its great to work at a large shop? and have access to all the things you could possibly need? and even the fact that I was technically paid to work on my own truck while on the clock? life is good...

 

crateampsrock is this your shop? What did you do get them to buy some new equipment sounds like?

Fun Fun Fun