454 rebuild- 83 K3500

[ZacharyDouglas1992]

I have a build thread for this truck going, but I figured I would make a seperate one for simply the motor build as that will be usefull for a much broader audience. I know there is tons of them out there but one more can't hurt right? And mine will have to pass CA emissions in the end so if nothing else it may be a good starting point for others in the same boat.

The engine ran like new, so I was hessitant at first to touch it. But I pulled the motor out as I am doing a restoration on the truck, and the motor seemed to be leaking out of every seal possible. There were 4 places that the oil pan gasket was leaking, the front timing cover seal was so bad the spring was exposed, the rear intake gasket was leaking, and it leaked from the hoses on the sandwich style oil cooler adapter. Amazingly, the rear main seal didnt leak at all. Never the less I was losing a quart of oil every 400 miles or so and I knew I wasn't burning it. The motor has 83k original miles on it, and looks like someone did a (sloppy) re-ring job on it in the past. Which leaves me with a solid foundation but needing work. I had planned on just re-gasketing it to stop all the leaks, but after inspecting the guts I thought better of it and now am overhauling it. So here is the plan and where I am at so far.

Entire engine disassembled, down to the bare block.

The cylinders are in such good shape I am not going to touch them. They still have the cross hatching marks that new moly rings will love.

The crank will be getting turned. there is the slightest amount of wear from a little dirt getting in, and up to this point it was standard. However, the thrust bearing was about half as thick as it should be, and that is the main reason I am getting the crank worked on.


Anyhow, when it's all done I should have a long lasting, fun to drive motor that makes more torque than horsepower. And in a 10000 gvwr truck that's prrobably for the best. When I get home from work I will post all the parts/services and their prices. And the known specs of them. Any questions/suggestions/comments always welcome.