Engine issues - Advice and suggestions welcome - Save my 1LE!

[terry_b]

Well, this is a pretty disappointing post to make - last month I developed a ticking sound that I was able to narrow down to a bad lifter (somewhat odd on a non DoD engine, but still an "LS thing"). Took the car off the road, and tried to plan out the fix.

I waffled back and forth quite a bit on doing the lifter job myself, but I'm working full-time, have a toddler, and I'm also going for my master's degree, so time was limited. Ultimately took it to a local shop I really like and trust for the repair - expensive but I figured it would be the best course.



Bad lifter turned into a cam job as well, which I mostly expected, but of course increased cost of labor substantially.



Shop was getting things buttoned up, cleaning up the cylinders after getting new cam and lifters in - and noticed I had a pretty big crack in the cylinder sleeve. Again, evidently this is an aluminum block "LS thing".



So now I'm several thousand into the original lifter job - and I basically went OEM rather than "upgraded" cam just to keep cost down - but now I'm looking at a block repair/new short block.

Couple local machine shops were contacted - at least 6 months to a year out to get the work in. Also, evidently it's not as common to just resleeve these blocks anymore, and if you're going to do one, then realistically you should do all of them because there's so much machining already being done. there's also a whole thing about doing a darton sleeve to prevent future failure, and not many shops around do this anymore?

A new basic short block would be like another $5k, which I just don't have in the budget right now. This is my 110k mile daily driver, and I really don't want to get rid of it. I'm also not in the best position financially right now for a new car (see above, toddler), and I was actually pretty happy to be "stuck" in my car for a while.



I also talked to a local engine builder, and found a path I'd like to pursue where he would build me a short block with the cast iron block from a 2500 truck bored out to match my OEM so I wouldn't even need to tune. But that's like $7k, not including transporting the engine and getting it back in the car, although it would be bulletproof.

I'm not really sure what to do at this point. The "right" repair just isn't in my budget right now, so I just had the shop put the car back together and I will drive it sparingly for as long as I can I guess. Try to source a new engine, even if I have to piece it together in my garage little by little until I can swap it?

I would love any leads on getting this fixed - different ideas I didn't think of?

I really want to keep driving my 1LE - even with a tiny bit of body rust on the rear fender and a little bit under the car, I want to keep it. I just put a couple thousand into tires, brakes, and suspension, just a kick in the teeth to find this crack AFTER all the parts and labor of the lifter job.

[CamaroDreams76]

Lifter failures are common just far more common in the L99. The LS3/LS7 lifters have needle bearings which are typically the cause of failure. Thats why when people cam these cars they do the trunnion upgrade, it eliminates the needle bearings. As far as stock LS sleeves cracking. Thats normal for boosted applications. I would absolutely say thats not normal at all but doesn't really matter because it happened. Sleeving a block, yes you would sleeve every cylinder, not just one.

I dont know what your time frame is but I know Texas Speed does a pretty big black Friday sale where they take about 2 grand off their shortblocks. You can also call them and see if they have anything they are trying to move or are willing to discount something for you. Same with TKM. TKM will build motors for clients and then some cant or wont pay or wont pick up the motor, so they'll try to move them at a discounted rate.

Your cheapest option is probably a junkyard or ebay. Pull a L99 or LS3. Use the block and Frankenstein the motor back together.

[FASTFATBOY]

Buy an LS3 short block, work your heads and put it back together.

Have the injectors sonic cleaned and flowed.


Why would you do a trunnion upgrade because the lifters have needle bearings?

[CamaroDreams76]

Originally Posted by FASTFATBOY

Buy an LS3 short block, work your heads and put it back together.

Have the injectors sonic cleaned and flowed.


Why would you do a trunnion upgrade because the lifters have needle bearings?

I was thinking rockers not lifters. My mistake.

[larry_g]

I was getting ready to go supercharged when I found the crack in my sleeve. I ended up finding a slightly used LSA block and used that for my build. Not sure what's available out there used, but it could be an option.

Sent from my Pixel 8 Pro using Tapatalk