2000 K3500 4x4 CC DRW

[Supercharged111]

Just sell me the truck for a deal, those ******** are tough to find clean. I'll even let you deliver it.

 

[cool_as_crap]

Well there's only one way to learn haha. I hear ya though.

If you know anyone that has built any old gm motor (big block preferably) they would be able to walk you through this. The machine shop you use will likely be able to help a lot, and probably be able to tell you if the crank is reusable, and help with the bearing selection and whatnot. Don't be intimidated by anything with the EFI/computer (I was before really getting to know mine), its a pretty simple system.

Otherwise the rebuild just consists of taking things apart in a neat manner, labeling everything and taking lots of pictures will help.

Have the block either honed or bored. If you bore it you'll need different pistons, so that'll be up to you to decide if you want new pistons or not. It is also possible that the block will require boring (the machine shop should be able to tell you if it does or not), if so you'll have to get new pistons.

Then have the block cleaned, new cam bearings installed, new freeze plugs installed, have the heads checked for any cracks, new valve seats and valve stem seals (valve job?), new springs to match the new cam you're going to get (I'm maintaining that this is a must), then throw it all back together with the correct torque specs.

I'm sure there are parts of the process that I'm leaving out, but hopefully this gives you something to think about. Do some internet research into rebuilding 454's, there should be some decent write-ups out there.

Good info, thanks for the advice!

The more I research the more I lean toward doing it myself. It's intimidating at first, but the more I disassemble and replace things, the more comfortable I am.
I've always enjoined working on my own vehicles, I think this may be the next step I've been waiting for to further my experiences.
And the idea of saving money not spent on labor and putting it into a cam instead is very enticing

Getting time to actually do it is the hardest thing.

Just sell me the truck for a deal, those ******** are tough to find clean. I'll even let you deliver it.

Oh man, what a deal!

 

[cool_as_crap]

Next update will be after this weekend, I plan to finally drop the oil pan and check ALL of the bearing clearances.
If it looks like they need to be replaced I'm not going to waste anymore time underneath it, and just skip to a rebuild.

 

[Christian Steffen]

Good info, thanks for the advice!

The more I research the more I lean toward doing it myself. It's intimidating at first, but the more I disassemble and replace things, the more comfortable I am.
I've always enjoined working on my own vehicles, I think this may be the next step I've been waiting for to further my experiences.
And the idea of saving money not spent on labor and putting it into a cam instead is very enticing

Getting time to actually do it is the hardest thing.

Time is always the hard part, at least for most of us. And I don't think you'll be disappointed doing it yourself, you'll save more than enough to justify the cam swap! I've never had an engine built by someone else but I cannot imagine its cheap, and plus you'll be learning a lot about your engine while you're at it. There will be more stuff that'll need to be addressed with the cam swap when you get there (ecm and bigger injectors) but we'll cross that bridge later.

 

[Supercharged111]

Hey cool, what's the GVWR on this pig? The google is not being very helpful in answering.

 

[cool_as_crap]

So, I found some gunk in the oil pickup

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That is a thin metal sliver, about 2" long. Thats half of it that you can see, I had to pull the rest out.

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And some strange wear on the ends of these (lobes?), rough and painful to touch.

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Cam wear? Does that look normal? Or would that explain the cold ticking it initially had?

One main bearing had .0015" clearance, i'll check more tomorrow.

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[cool_as_crap]

Time is always the hard part, at least for most of us. And I don't think you'll be disappointed doing it yourself, you'll save more than enough to justify the cam swap! I've never had an engine built by someone else but I cannot imagine its cheap, and plus you'll be learning a lot about your engine while you're at it. There will be more stuff that'll need to be addressed with the cam swap when you get there (ecm and bigger injectors) but we'll cross that bridge later.

I think i'll go for it. The special tools will be an initial investment but I have a habit of owning older vehicles (2005 evo) that will eventually also need rebuilds.
Funny thing happened, i've been watching a bunch of videos of v8 pushrod rebuilds and in one series the dude walks through disassembly really well, but the rngine was out of Alex and didnt end up rebuilding it. So I learned all about the first part

Hey cool, what's the GVWR on this pig? The google is not being very helpful in answering.

10k ish? I'm not sure sorry

 

[Supercharged111]

If the bearings aren't showing copper, then they're not going to cause a knock. Can you check your door sticker? It'll have GAWRs and the GVWR.

 

[cool_as_crap]

If the bearings aren't showing copper, then they're not going to cause a knock. Can you check your door sticker? It'll have GAWRs and the GVWR.

Confirmed 10k

 

[Supercharged111]

Sweet, thanks!