SiDeWaYZz28

hey whats up everybody??ok heres the deal im currently in the process of collevting all my parts to rebuild my top end heads,cam etc...my brother was telling me should do my bottom end while im at it...he preety much told me like this you are bolting all those parts on a unsturdy platform..so how much am i looking to spend on parts???what parts do i need??i just want an idea on what im looking at...after i get some info i guess ill go talk to keith at ffp...thanks for the help folks imma newbie to this rebuild $hiet

indieaz

Man, if you're gunna rebuild your bottom end you're talking about a whole new world of budget concerns. If you have the money and time go all the way for sure - a completely fresh engine is the best way to go obviously. But remember if you do your bottom end you're now tlaking about doubling the cost of your project and having to remove the engine from the car (where a cam swap can be done without engine removal).

mebanditws6

How many miles are on your car and what cam are you gonna run?


Jason

hvyss

How many miles on bottom end? A good friend built a eagle forged 383 LT1 in a 95z two years ago and has 2000 miles on the bottom end. He is currently having Advanced Induction set him up a solid roller and ported Trick Flow heads. On the ported LT1 castings and a 306 cam he ran 10.74 on a 150 shot. All his miles were a 1/4 at a time. We pulled the motor and sent it back to the machine shop to have the top end setup. They found worn main bearings due to the car running rich (coating gone on bearings). So it is going to get rebearinged and start fresh. Hoping when tunned for high to mid 10's all motor. If the rotating assembly has alot of hard miles on it, it will probably be worth going thru the bottom end. Just my two cents. Good luck
HVY SS

SiDeWaYZz28

230/236 xe ..the car is about to flip over to 87,000 here in 400 miles..for the top end im changing everything should i be good?

zx1216

87,000 miles should be alright, the stock bottom end is pretty stout, just be carefull not to introduce any particals into the motor which could cause damage and spun bearings.

1redTA

My motor had 86,000 miles on it and we pulled the motor to do a head and cam swap and everything looked great the hatch marks were there no ridge on the cylinder walls and the motor was extrememly clean with very little build up..... it spun a bearing less than 20 miles later IMHO pull the motor get it tank and replace the rings and bearings, I wish I did !!!

1-bad-z28

I'm the exact same boat....My car ran perfect...never had a problem....then i ported and polished the heads and put in a cam. I had a spun bearing less than 500 miles later and 450 of those was on a 6 hour trip from south georgia to north alabama. It didn't last 1 week. Since i have to rebuild the bottom...i pulled the motor and currently painting the engine bay and repainting the car. What i have found is that it is a 50/50 chance of spinning a bearing. I would just freshen it up...new bearings and rings.

nfa

assuming that a shop does all the work, how many hours of labour are you you looking at to refresh the motor (i.e. install heads/cam + hot tank the block and install fresh rings/bearings?)

1-bad-z28

i do all work myself so i don't know how long it would take an actual shop. Doing all the work yourself saves alot of money too.

niteninja

My z flopped at 81K (bent valves in passenger side head), and I am rebuilding all of it I keep saying, while I got the heads off, then while I got the engine out... the list is still going.

tanker

There is an opinion floating around that when you change heads and tighten down head bolts, you restress the block in a different way, change bearing clearances and spin the bearing. It does make sence, but I am not sure to what extent it is accurate. It's just a reputable shop giving it's opinion. I just helped a guy to do H/C last week, and we are holding fingers crossed for 76K mile motor that looked very very clean. I have a 5hp vaccum I used many times to be extra cautious with a single dirt particle. Oil was changed at 40 miles, and it will be changed at 200 miles, have two very strong magnets installed (oil pan bolt+oil filter) checking for metal shavings; Said my friend he should go to chuch and say a praying for his motor. You just never know. I spun a bearing before, but it was a very sloppy job with a extremally bad taken care motor

SiDeWaYZz28

so i should atleist get new rimgs and bearing right...or how bout a nice 355???

1-bad-z28

if you do a 355 you gotta get new pistons and all the machining involved. If you want to go cheap just replace the bearings and rings. The whole changing heads puts more stress on the block theory, i'm not buying. I have done numerous head gasket replacements and that warrants a new set of head bolts and have never spun a bearing. My theory is the bigger cam, higher compression and more hp puts extra stress on the pistons causing the old worn out bearings to just give up the fight. A set of bearings and rings don't cost that much. You may or may not be glad you did it. I also don't think that it is much more work to just pull the motor than it is to install a cam and heads. I've pulled the motor out of my car 4 or 5 times so believe me, it is not that bad.

SiDeWaYZz28

ok i think ill just change the rings and bearing..after i do that is there anyother thing i have to worry about???thanks for the help