I'm not concerned with getting a custom tune, yet. I'm not worried with picking up tons of power and torque.

My biggest concern is longevity, followed by performance. I figure if I'm there already and the cost is negligible I'll go ahead and go for performance. If its going to cost an additional grand, I'll pass.

 

I went with a Fastman throttle body and did some minor porting/polishing of the heads. Both definitely woke up the engine.

 

Is that a grand for the whole project? Or, just on the tune? Custom tunes can be had from Hemifever for 365.00...

Any truck that has the "authorized software update" sticker on the PCM has the death flash. Most common on 2000 and newer trucks.

 

I'll keep that in mind for the future. Thanks!

The heads will be brand new from Clearwater. The 2.02 stainless intake ones. I believe that's a bit ported from the original size.

The original intent in the rebuild was to increase longevity and some minor re-powering. The heads were cracked enough that I don't want to reuse them. One of the cam shaft lobes is worn way WAY out of spec.

Someone mentioned about the cylinder wall thickness but I don't recall these being sleeved, so why would that matter? Unless they are induction hardened, which I was not aware of.

They are 4 thousandths wider than they should be at their widest spot.

 

Keep in mind the bigger valves are more for mid-range/upper RPM power. Sticking with the stock size 1.92's might better suit your purposes. Replacing the heads with some of the Clearwater/Odessa heads that have the better castings is a GREAT idea.

Cylinder wall thickness: Rumor has it, the cylinder walls were thin castings to begin with, this was gone over in Matty's 408 build thread. However, after having his wall thickness tested, in his case, he had plenty of meat to punch the block out .030. So, jury is still out on that one. Better safe than sorry though....

The stock engine wasn't built to be good at any particular thing... it was built as a series of compromises of fuel economy (*cough*), emissions, and, last but not least... power. Having a specific target in mind, and selecting parts accordingly, you won't be able to HELP but increase power and efficiency, in the range you build for. For a truck, low to mid range grunt is what you want. (unless you are a mud racer......)

Need to address the exhaust as well too. All the extra breathing on the intake side won't do you much good if you can't get rid of it afterwards. Nice free-flowing exhaust compliments engine mods rather nicely.

And, lets not forget the torque converter....... The last link in the chain that you can play with to keep your engine in the range you want it. (aside from gears.... but, that's a bit more on the expensive side.) You want your t/c stall speed to complement your engine build.

 

So really I'm not gaining any longevity by using the stainless valves, at least nothing worth spending the extra hundred or so bucks for.

I'll have the cylinders bored to .030 and put in the same sized cam.

I've got a new catalyst and exhaust for it too. The old cat was plugged.

 

Any brand recommendations for the pistons? Should I use a different push rod?

 

Use a cam that is better than stock..... if you are going to replace it, might just as well put something in there that works better. There ARE computer friendly cams available, talk to Crane, or Comp Cams, and get a recommendation from them.

For the rest of the valve train, see what the cam manufacturer recommends. Most comp friendly cams will just use the stock valve train.

Most of the manufacturers found on summit are pretty good. Keith Black, Speed Pro, Manley, wiseco....

 

Not really. 1 piece valves are beneficial if you want to run heavier valve springs (for spinning beyond ~5k). Heavier valve springs have the potential to snap the stock 2 piece valves in half. I have less than 200 miles on my new motor but I can tell already a huge improvement above 4k or so with heavier valve springs. My cam was also toast, on multiple lobes, I went with a stock replacement though (and new lifters). Theory has it that me spinning the motor pretty fast on the stock valve springs was launching the lifters and they damaged the cam but I'm not too sure. My motor had 140k and the valves still sealed perfectly. My bores also looked good so I didn't bother boring it, just had it honed and threw it back together, my crank did have to be turned .010" though.