4.8/5.3 questions

[crazy4offroad]

OK so I'm sittin at the house yesterday and a buddy of mine pops in and says he knows a guy who is about to junk a 327. I jumped to attention, threw my shoes on and said we need to stop this guy! Reason being, I knew a woman a while back that junked an old Chevy Impala POS because the trans went out. Me and several other guys cried for weeks. Well we get down there and it's actually a 5.3 modern 327. It has spun 3 rod bearings and one main bearing. After looking at it a minute I was about to say hell with it, but you could still see the cross hatch pattern on the cylinder walls. It had about 1/8" of sludge on everything on the inside, so the oil had probably never been changed or even checked. It was a short block, no heads, intake, water pump or oil pan. But the pistons, rods, cam, crank and just about everything else was there. My question is, is this thing even work messing with? The guy told me he bought an '01 Silverado extended cab 4x4 from an auction for $1500 which needed a motor (the one in question) and he went to a place that sells low mileage motors and picked up a complete 5.3 for $650. He said I would have more in it trying to get it running than it would be worth, since you can get a motor that cheap. I went ahead and took it, if nothing else I can use it for horse trading and if no one wants it I'll junk it later. Just wanted you guys' opinion if I should even bother with it, if anyone would want it for swapping or should I just junk it?

 

[oneluckypops]

3 rod bearingrs arnt that big of deal but with the main bearing spun you know your gonna have to have it line bored, So I would think it would cost more then its worth to fix it.

 

[crazy4offroad]

I double checked the main bearing that I thought was spun, the bearing is still there, it just looks like it is galled real bad, and galled the crank in that journal. A 0.010" under crank and bearing set and this thing might be useful to someone.

 

[J@meson]

I would just grab a pull out on Ebay, the 4.8's and 5.3's drop in price all the time, there was a guy local to me selling complete pan to TB for 350-600$ with milage ranging from 40k to 140k....

 

[bucket]

I think you would end up having as much money tied up in it as just picking up a good 6.0 longblock.

 

[crazy4offroad]

Yeah I'm leaning more towards scrapping it.

 

[my4by2]

Scrap it man. These engines are WAY too plentiful out there to invest that money to rebuild the 5.3L. And he's right - upgrade to the 6.0L or even the new 6.2L versions - well worth it! The Mast Motorsports 6.0L LY6 I am dropping in my truck made 497hp on the engine dyno!

 

[crazy4offroad]

Already done. It, along with a few hundred pounds of other scrap = more mod money lol.

 

[HotRodPC]

I think I'da kept it. Sure you'd have the same money it, but yours would be new, the other ones you could get for the same money are used and you don't know the history. What it the used one you bought was abused like this one was, a can of SeaFoam ran thru the crankcase, then sell it. I wouldn't want to buy that one motor. I'd prefer to build my own. I'da crank kitted it, and new rings and run it. Probably would have at least inspected the cam bearings too which actually, roller motor, the cam bearings should have survived.

 

[crazy4offroad]

After thinking it over I would rather have the money in hand to throw at more mod parts than sit on it and maybe never use it. It helped pay for the stuff to get the rear end in. I found a place on ebay to buy vortec heads, the good ones, 906/062s for cheap...
http://compare.ebay.com/like/170541...fe31dd1&itemid=170541742727&ff4=263602_309572
Put them on the short block I have, get a carb intake to match and run it!

 

[HotRodPC]

Yeah, I think that would be your hot ticket. I wonder what his price is outright cash and carry. I have a bud in FL that comes to see me from time to time. He could bring me some heads.