hey guys sorry about the long hiatus from posting, i actually forgot all about it to be honest. the project has been finished for a few months now and oh boy am i glad to report that. this project was such a pita! everything that could possibly go wrong pretty much did. ok so where did we leave off......

well after tell my padre his options he opted for a full rebuild(lucky me). so i got to work yanking the motor out then broke it down to send out to the machine shop. i was going to add the rest of the pictures right now but photobucket doesnt seem to want to cooperate with me while im at work on a dialup connection so i will post them up in a few hours....

 

here they are guys







supported the trans with a jack





slowly started to lift it out being careful not to snag anything on its way up





supported the bellhousing with a piece of barstock that spans the frame rails



bolted up the engine stand to get it ready for disassembly





more pics in the next post fellas...

 

Nice progress! Keep the pics coming!

 

alright well after it was bolted to the engine stand, i started to disassemble the motor. make sure you label all of your parts and bolts to make sure it all goes back together properly. i used a spring loaded center punch to mark the main caps and connecting rod caps as well with dots corresponding to the cyl # or main cap position ref the front of the motor.













do the same thing when you mark the rotating assemblies, cam to balance shaft more importantly

 

thats my blazer on the left







and off she went to get boiled and cleaned out of all that gunk. the heads were rebuilt and the block was taken .030" over.

 

now just a note to you guys rebuilding your own motor.... take your time and make sure that you are paying attention. unfortunatly i was working on this motor in any free moment i had and around 1am i was pushing the last piston into the #6 cylinder and something went very wrong...apparently i did not have the ring compressor square to the block and the bottom oil control retainer ring was not fully compressed and scored the heck out of the cylinder wall. i carefully removed it and surveyed the damage after a lot of yelling and some not so PG rated words were uttered





heres the ring compared to a good one i stole from the 4.030" ring set i was saving for my 355





after that little mishap i went out and bought a sleeve style ring compressor and i regret not doing it even sooner! this thing was amazing!









after that little hiccup the rest of the assembly went kind of smooth....until the next speed bump. stay tuned

 

oh yeah i know i didnt really go into detail with that score in the cylinder but i did clean it up and hone the crap out of it before i reinstalled the piston with a new ring just for the record.













and the lovely torque to yield bolts required the torque angle gauge (sarcasm much?)

 

Love all the pictures, it takes dedication and time to stop during assembly/tearing apart anything to stop and take pictures!

 

Thanks man, it is difficult to stop and remember to take pictures. i didnt stop and take pics while assembling the rotating assembly and the measurement/plastigage stage because i was on such a roll. that was until i scraped the hell out of the cylinder wall. after that mess i decided to document the rest of the build extensively so it could serve as a guide to anyone else doing a rebuild themselves. just a few tips i forgot to mention earlier....put 2 pieces of fuel line over the bolts on the connecting rods to prevent any scratches on the cylinder walls (ironic much?), from what i gathered speaking to several engine builders if a fastener has a torque spec that preloads it with a set torque and then requires it to be turned to an addtional angle, that fastener is most likely a torque to yield type fastener. now i know there is some arguement here and people have gotten away with re using fasteners without issue, but with my luck i would be the guy to hve the bolt break because it was already stretched once and i ended up listening to the wrong advice. so by my logic, yes its an addtional cost, ~$40 for new main bolts and $14 per side for new head bolts, but id rather pay that $68 any day of the week and have the piece of mind knowing that my hardware is just fine. hmm what else.... oh well be sure to use the proper sealant/lubracant on the bolts especially on the head bolts as they go into h2o jackets. follow all torque specs and orders. that about it i guess as far as advice goes. ill post of the pics of the rest of the build now

 

after the cam was in i realized that the timing set i got had a different sprocket set up so i had to pull the bottom one off and put the correct one on



through all of my searching for a timing kit with the correct gear i came across a service bulletin from chevy. apparently there was a problem with some rattling coming from the stock timing chain so chevy had the dealers add this timing chain tensioner kit. i was going to ignore it but i figured eh what the hell. so about $270 later i got the kit and installed the nylon tensioner that rides along the side of the chain







make sure you dont switch up the plates for the cam and balance shaft