Rebulding motor and adding a few things.. check it out. Need suggestions/help!

[Sarge]

Long story short my 99 4x4 2 door started knocking, not bad so maybe a wrist pin. It doesn't knock at idle just when i rev it up a tad. Its not very bad, and caught it quick so hopefully there is not much damage, but we wont know till we tear it down.

Basically me and a buddy are going to rebuild it. Plan is to get a sealed power master rebuild kit, and a head rebuild kit, new lifters and reuse anything we can like the crank, pistons etc ''depending on what needs to be replaced vs what can be kept''. While im in there i wanna add a cam, but where i dont have to do head work etc. I havent done much research but what i came up with is this. And to keep in mind i want to use my current tune, stock converter. The tahoe has full cold air, shorty headers, ported tb, catback, and hypertech max energy tune ''it was free, dont hate'' and the new style injectors. It has leveled with 285/70/17 with stock 3.73s and i just want better overall power without killing gas mileage..i dont care if it has a lope or not. Its a DD and i rarely tow, but i want to be able to tow my camaro to the track when i need and not have to worry about it being a pig like it was when it was bone stock.


So what i found so far.

The ramjet ''rv'' cam http://www.summitracing.com/parts/nal-14097395/applications/make/chevrolet?prefilter=1

Head kit, just to freshen it up..work with cam? http://www.summitracing.com/parts/drt-28112000/overview/year/1999/make/chevrolet/model/tahoe

Motor rebuild kit http://www.summitracing.com/parts/fem-mk6504-000/overview/year/1999/make/chevrolet/model/tahoe

And i plan to hone the motor, and can i port the heads without having to change the tune?

Basically i have all the gaskets where i JUST did the intake gasket/ injectors and a full ac delco tune 2 weeks ago..bad luck there.. but if anyone knows of a better rebuild kit with all the components minis the gaskets that would be great.

If i had $1500 i would just get a rebuild 4 bolt main from a advance or oreillys but i just dont have that much cash right now.

Any suggestion and links would be appreciated. Again i wont know what ill need till we tear it down, just trying to get an idea.

Thanks!

 

[retorq]

None of those links work, you don't want to go thru all that and reuse the old pistons. Get the block bored and honed by shop. Also since you spun a bearing and since you don' know which one, you may need some other parts, like a rod or a crank. $1500 is going to be pretty cheap for a rebuilt 4 bolt short block. I put over $2200 into my first rebuild ... Also if you've never ported Vortec heads before I would leave the alone. You could end up making them worse.

 

[SunlitComet]

but if you could manage the money jegs is probably the cheapest seller of the gm l31 long block. this is a gm stock replacement with all new parts including the castings. http://www.jegs.com/i/Chevrolet+Performance/809/12530282/10002/-1

 

[Sarge]

Fixed the links above.

At Oreillys and i can get a Power Torque long block for around 1500. http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/d...=Search_02239_1353721_1696&pt=02239&ppt=C0332 but ive never heard of that brand.

But i could also get the lower end rebuild kit for ~500. It just depends what went wrong in the motor.

 

[SunlitComet]

basically it is one company rebuilding motors for different store franchises. powertorque is the one oreilly uses but the rebuilder does atk/vege engines as well which use to be the ones sold at oreilly. it is just a few componies buying everyone up to consolidate products to rebrand and sell. usually quiality suffers as a result. and the powertrque is no different. they have issues with their builds and warranties. bear in mined that most of us hear have reached or are about to reach 200k miles with the factory engines. so when properly maintained and service you should expect as much with a new gm block. my cylinder block is past 250k. if you like to have the fun and redo the engine your self it is better to buy very good parts individually and with the help of a machine shop fix the one you have.

 

[Sarge]

Well pulled the cam, intake, rocker arms off so far. I can see the cam bearing are worn the crap out.. So ill tear it down and see what else is wrong. I should be able to reuse the pistons.

So i need a suggestion on a rebuild kit, and what about the ''ram jet'' rv cam? Or any suggestion a better cam to use with stock tune. Thanks..

And yea we got the motor out fast, drove it in, and in 2 hours had it on the stand, oil still warm. And them got everything off the motor in like 15 mins.. to bad putting it back together wont be as easy/fast.

 

[97Tahoe2d4x]

WOW, got the motor out in 2 hours?!! That's pretty darn FAAAAST.

Just noticed that head kit in the link above comes with 2.02 intake and 1.60 exhaust valves, I thought stock Vortec heads had 1.94/1.60 valves. Looking at some machine work on that.....something to look into.

I'd go with new long block but I understand that money's tight.

Good luck with your tear down and keep us posted.

 

[retorq]

You are correct, Vortecs have the smaller valves from the factory.

If you spun a cam bearing chances are the block is no good. I had an "all mighty powerful Vortec" block that cracked from the main bearing all the way down to the cam bearing that spun like a top in the cam journal. Stock engine, nothing was done to it and it pushed the front main bearing out the front of the block ...

 

[SunlitComet]

Ha! i knew there was some vortec resentment in you.

 

[retorq]

Ha! i knew there was some vortec resentment in you.

I put that in there for you ********* Vortec sack riders.