engine rebuild?

[prodjay10]

My engine runs great, good oil pressure, doesn't burn oil, no misfires, and as far as I can tell it doesn't leak anymore oil. But I've noticed that it wasn't maintained very well because of quite a bit of sludge buildup and it's starting to develop a slight lifter tick that goes away after about a minute. I can either leave it alone, or buy the lifters and replace gaskets, or I can buy a rebuild kit and replace everything.

If I go the rebuild route, I was thinking getting a kit on rock auto with all standard sizes, taking the block and heads to a machine shop, have them hot tank them, install cam bearings, hone cylinders, and polish crank. Then I'd install/replace everything else myself.

Does this sound reasonable? What would you suggest? I have most all tools needed except maybe any gauges to measure clearances.

[tinydb84]

How many miles are on it? Do you have good compression?

Assuming no major issues I would run it and do a few oil changes. Maybe run an engine flush through it right before the oil change. You can always rebuild it down the road if you have issues later.

[LS short box]

What year and size of LS engine?

[AussieinNC]

Originally Posted by prodjay10

My engine runs great, good oil pressure, doesn't burn oil, no misfires, and as far as I can tell it doesn't leak anymore oil. But I've noticed that it wasn't maintained very well because of quite a bit of sludge buildup and it's starting to develop a slight lifter tick that goes away after about a minute. I can either leave it alone, or buy the lifters and replace gaskets, or I can buy a rebuild kit and replace everything.

If I go the rebuild route, I was thinking getting a kit on rock auto with all standard sizes, taking the block and heads to a machine shop, have them hot tank them, install cam bearings, hone cylinders, and polish crank. Then I'd install/replace everything else myself.

Does this sound reasonable? What would you suggest? I have most all tools needed except maybe any gauges to measure clearances.

Are we talking about an LS engine?

If so, IMHO, leave it alone, change the oil and filter and use 5W 20 oil in it...

After a couple of oil changes you will notice the ticking will reduce.

You can remove the rocker covers and hand scrape the sludge away from the engine surfaces....sludge builds up over time when oil is not changed at correct intervals.

[prodjay10]

2002 5.3L. Not sure of compression.

Thanks for the replies. I did scrape/wash the surfaces I could get too but looks like there’s more in places I can’t get to.

I’ll try your suggestions.
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[prodjay10]

Not sure of miles either.
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[kipps]

Regardless, if the motor conks out on you, it will be cheaper to replace it with a good used engine, instead of rebuilding that one.

Consider the longblock to be a throw-away item. $300 should get you a sub-150k mile bare engine. You won't even touch a rebuild for that price.

[prodjay10]

About $600 here. Maybe a little more with that low of miles n
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[gmc684x4]

Run her put seafoam in it help wash out the crud
If compression is good oil pressure good seafoam it

I cleaned the crud out of a few 70s 350s regasket and drive em like i stole them for several years

[americanmusc1e]

if it's got good oil pressure, decent compression. and it's not leaking I'd just run it. Change the oil more often than necessary the first few times.