How much trouble did I buy myself?
 

Got this 5.3 from a seller who got it from a wrecking yard. Highly suspicious that it did not coming directly out of a running truck. How hard is it to clean up?

https://i.imgur.com/TS3zhXM.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/TS3zhXMl.jpg

Re: How much trouble did I buy myself?
 

whoa!!!wow!!!....I'd be getting my money back if you bought it as a running engine.....if your gonna keep it a total rebuild is in your future..

Re: How much trouble did I buy myself?
 

They claimed it was running but I got it for $500 and was contemplating a rebuild either way. Just want to be sure I'm not gonna rack up costs too much outside of a rebuild.

Re: How much trouble did I buy myself?
 

To clarify. They said they heard it run over the phone. No way to verify the engine they heard is the one they got.

Re: How much trouble did I buy myself?
 

Thats a donor block, and only if you hot tank the hell out of it.

Re: How much trouble did I buy myself?
 

Donor block?

Re: How much trouble did I buy myself?
 

I'm betting the one they "heard" over the phone is not the one you took home...

Re: How much trouble did I buy myself?
 

uhh ya that motor has not run for awhile. get your money back.



reminds me of the ads on craigslist, MOTOR RAN WHEN PULLED.:lol:

Re: How much trouble did I buy myself?
 

Good for the block and not much else. Thats gotta fully come apart, and depending on the amount of corrosion etc in the cylinders, a lot of things might not be reused. Its not a clean n run kinda thing..and if the block looks like that, I'm sure the heads and other things attached aren't in great shape either.

Re: How much trouble did I buy myself?
 

Heads look good. One rocker had corrosion on it and I'm not so sure about the lifters. Crank spins.

Re: How much trouble did I buy myself?
 

Clean it up and take a closer look . If the water got into the engine after it was running and did not stay long enough to cause any damage it may clean up . If there is any pitting in the cylinders it will need to come apart and bored.

Re: How much trouble did I buy myself?
 

I was thinking if the water got into the lower end, you may need to replace or regrind, or at the very minimal polish the crank bearing surfaces, and likely the cam too.

stick that thing on an engine stand, flip it over and start pulling it apart. if your cylinders are corroded your looking at a very minimal a heavy hone job, likely a bore and if you do a bore new pistons. IMO you bought a core engine, hopefully a rebuildable core.

IF you can get your $$ back, i would !!!

for 500$ did you get anything other than the engine? intake? throttle body? wire harness? anything?

I wonder if the seller got into it as far as you did and just decided to unload it.

IF you can get your $$ back, i would !!! you can find better condition engines for similar prices or even if you spent more on a better engine you really honestly would be money ahead.

Re: How much trouble did I buy myself?
 

have everything but the harness and ecm. around here 500 is half what I've seen them go for. Some milky oil in the pan.

I'm tempted to rebuild it.

Re: How much trouble did I buy myself?
 

Cleaned out and I wiped down the cylinders with oil. Looks a lot more promising.

https://i.imgur.com/koGFgTa.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/koGFgTal.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/J57CvZT.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/J57CvZTl.jpg

Re: How much trouble did I buy myself?
 

Did the intake have any holes in it? My 5.3 was pressure washed before I got it and the cam position sensor was out of it and some of the plugs were missing from the intake so water got inside from that only. Mine wasn't that bad but we soaked up all the water, cleaned it real good and I've been running it. The cylinder walls looked really good after we got the water out too.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/702/3...1ed8481d_b.jpg

https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2392/...2d6a0cbd_b.jpg

Re: How much trouble did I buy myself?
 

I didn't see any. One side of spark plugs were loose and the oil fill is missing the cap. Owner said he cleaned it up. Try to peek in the manifold and see if there is any moisture.

What did you use to clean up the cylinders?

Re: How much trouble did I buy myself?
 

one thing oversized pistons are pretty pricey (IMO) for these so if you need to bore this it will cost more than a standard sbc if I remember correctly.
but I would at a minimum take it all apart it should bet new bearings and not just clean up the bore. But it sounds like you had a rebuild in mind anyway.

Re: How much trouble did I buy myself?
 

Yeah just looking at summit the LS pistons are twice as much.

A little part of my brain said I should rebuild anyways just to be sure I didn't have a problem down the road. Not in a hurry to drop it in. Can wait till summer to do that.

You guys have been real helpful. Expect a lot more questions from me for the next few months.

Re: How much trouble did I buy myself?
 

Here's a shot of the crank.

https://i.imgur.com/R8YA7rHl.jpg?1

Re: How much trouble did I buy myself?
 

I used an industrial degreaser that my buddy gets me and a brass brush to clean it all up

Re: How much trouble did I buy myself?
 

If you get it apart and have it tanked, at least you can be sure that all the coolant and oil passages will be free of gunk. Then if the block looks good naked, you can see if a simple hone will clean it up enough. The rest just bolts together with cleaned up old parts if so.

Obviously things like spun bearings or other findings can change that, but you really can't go anywhere with the block together as it is.

Re: How much trouble did I buy myself?
 

Well I pulled all the rods to get a good picture of the cylinders and the rod journals.

https://i.imgur.com/Wjl3nnKl.jpg

No spun rod bearings.

Haven't pulled the crank yet. But it spins pretty easy.

One cylinder looks scored but I can't feel a groove.

https://i.imgur.com/IquEe8ll.jpg

Ordering a Flex hone.

Re: How much trouble did I buy myself?
 

that doesnt look too bad.

Re: How much trouble did I buy myself?
 

Like BR3W CITY said.... check the cooling jackets for sludge/gunk. I thought my 6.0 pullout was good to go until i pulled a head and saw the dexcool mess. From there it had to go the machine shop to get cleaned out and from there things got way out of hand because I am easily persuaded and have a slight HP problem.

ME. "i just want it cleaned up for a basic rebuild. I'm going to build a stroker in a couple years with it."
SHOP. "Well, its here now. Do you want to go through all this again later or just do it once now?"
ME (no hesitation) "OK. Makes sense. I want 500 hp at the flywheel"

Re: How much trouble did I buy myself?
 

Feel I'm in the same boat. If i take it for a hot tank and the machine shop tells me it should be bored I'll just be like "make em as big as you can"

Re: How much trouble did I buy myself?
 

My guy advised me to go the minimum overbore to clean it up. He said "we are putting a lot of money into this block (I did ALL the machine work to prep it right)- if we go max bore now you the block is junk if you break something (piston, ring, etc). If we go the minimum bore to clean it up, you at least have a chance to rebuild/fix it."

Made sense to me....

Re: How much trouble did I buy myself?
 

Yeah that does make a lot of sense.

Re: How much trouble did I buy myself?
 

That cam does not look so great, I would see if you can get money back. You'll have more $$ in a rebuild then finding a low mine engine. Just food for thought

Re: How much trouble did I buy myself?
 

I saw that too. I was planning on a cam swap anyways.

Re: How much trouble did I buy myself?
 

Thought I would post an update.

Since I needed to change the cam bearings and the tool cost as much as having a machine shop do it I took it to professional for cam bearing install, hot tank and cylinder hone.

Couple cylinders felt a little iffy after the hone so we decided on boring to the next size up. Since I will need new pistons I decided on flat tops for a performance boost. So far it's looking like I will have tripled my initial investment.

Re: How much trouble did I buy myself?
 

All i ended up using on my pullout 6.0 was the block and the pcm. Everything else was replaced. I sold the rotating assembly and kept the 317 heads (in case I decide to boost it later) but everything else got scrapped.... live and learn....

Re: How much trouble did I buy myself?
 

I was in the same boat with my junkyard 5.3. Ended up getting a BRAND NEW GM block and i believe summit or jegs is selling the 4/8.5.3 block for $500-600, free shipping and will have new cam bearings already installed. After i cleaned the factory antirust coating off it was a perfect stock bore ready for pistons. When you look at a re-bore and cam bearings and install labor i don't think there will be a big difference. Nothing against machinists, we need them, but i believe these blocks were gm extra stock they dumped when the great recession hit.

Re: How much trouble did I buy myself?
 

I feel for you! It could be worse, here's the 427 I bought that was just rebuilt and even came with full receipts! Fortunately I had already assumed for other reasons that I would have to rebuild it...

At first I was hoping it'd clean up but it was badly pitted. Enough that it'll need a sleeve. And if you look closely, the story gets even awesomer because the motor is already sleeved!

I guess the good news is it was already sleeved in the hole I need to sleeve.

Re: How much trouble did I buy myself?
 

This has a happy ending albeit a slightly more expensive one. Motor completely rebuilt and runs beautifully. Waiting for the exhaust install.

https://i.imgur.com/zsegY8jl.jpg

Re: How much trouble did I buy myself?
 

nice job!

Re: How much trouble did I buy myself?
 

Thanks. This forum has been a big help with this project.