Replies to post #608877 on Zeev's Turnips Patch-No Politics (ZEEV)

[Bruce A Thompson]

it was truly a labor of love

I bought an identical serviceable used 5.7 from the junkyard. I then stripped it down to the bare block and sent it to a machine shop for cleaning and boring out to .060 over. He also turned and trued the crank and supplied the appropriate main bearings. I then wire brushed and tapped every nut and bolt that came off the motor. The heads were crap so I bought another set for $100 and had the machine shop go through them and put in new valves and springs.

Then it was just a matter of buying 60 over pistons and rings from Summitt and a trailer towing cam and a beefy oil pump from Jegs. All the gaskets, sealers and lubes were bought from NAPA. The gaskets were from a complete overhaul kit. The Haines manual for that truck gives you an excellent complete overhaul step by. I also have a cousin who builds racing engines who gave me lots of real time advice over the phone.

I used a tap set to cleanout all the bolt hole threads in the block.

I laid down heavy plastic in my den and setup the rebuild stand. Yes, I am single and did not have to ask anyone. (g) That was to insure a dust free environment. It took 3 months to do it a little at a time. A lot of study before each step of the project to make sure I knew and understood each step was important. I was in no hurry and wanted it to be right when I turned the key.

I took a lot of ribbing from visitors until I set out the headers next to the project. Then the comments changed to "Wow! A racing engine. What are you going to put that in?"

After 3 months of patient building, I installed it in the truck and it cranked on the first compression stroke.

Total cost: $2100 including the bigazz torque wrench I had to buy.

BT

[Bruce A Thompson]

Thinking of the crate motor

Yes, most of the hard work is done for you but........

The $2100 5.7 GM crate motor comes with you having to install the pan, the valve covers, the intake manifold and fuel injectors, the throttle body and the water pump. By the time you finish doing all that, you are going to be approaching $3K anyway.

Then there is the matter of some personal satisfaction every time I turn the key.

Kinda like every time I push the on button on this computer. (g)

[Bruce A Thompson]

That being said, this one is sweet

http://www.jegs.com/i/GM+Performance/809/12530282/10002/-1

[Bruce A Thompson]

But then you can buy

An engine at any stage of build. You can buy a short block. or a long block with the heads and oil pump already installed, or you can buy a complete engine ready to switch with yours. It appears that the sellers have the economies of scale and their sale price runs about the same as your parts price for each stage of the build. My cousin the engine builder explained that every partial build he has seen had problems. Including Mr. Goodwrench. They come from an assembly line with unacceptable tolerances both in clearances and in torques. Every one he has ever bought needed to be torn down and everything retorqued to specs.