Engine Replacement or Rebuild

[Cody_350]

hey there, I have a 1999 OBS k2500 suburban 5.7 350 Chevy. not sure the transmission, I think it's the 4l80e maybe the 65, you guys have more knowledge, help me figure that out as well. okay, so I'm gonna hit 175,000 on my engine in a week or two. I'm getting some money and want to mod my truck. I've basically replaced 70% of the motors parts. it runs solid but there's little compression and it's just an old motor. I don't like to baby my rides, if I did I'm sure it would last 250,000 miles or so. I plan on getting 200,000 if I'm lucky. I don't know if I should rebuild this motor, is it salvageable? it's strong but I haven't rebuilt a motor before, just added stuff too it and replaced external pieces. if I replace the motor then I was gonna get a brand new crate motor and transmission off of jegs.com, it'll run me about $3,200. I have about $7,000 max to spend on any of this. I also thought about swapping my 350 out for a 454 Big Block and just upgrading it when I get some loose money. If I do a 454 swap I think I was gonna just buy another strong gmt400 with the 454 in it so I can get the computers and all the goodies. replace what's needed. I don't know how much that would all cost me though, because I bought my suburban for $3,700 out the door and now I'm about $12,500 into it. so I mean I kinda don't want to have to throw $5,000 into the 454. anybody rebuild a 350? I'm mainly trying to get more horsepower and torque with decent gas mileage. meaning I want about 450 horsepower with like 600 ft lbs of torque with like 10-12 mpg average. let me know what I can do! thanks.

 

[TrailBlazerZ71]

I was in a situation similar to yours with my '98 K1500. I ordered the L31R-HD motor kit from Jegs that came with NGK spark plugs and an Accel ignition kit, which cost me about $3,000 with injectors, headers, ARP bolt kit, water pump, etc... It has a 4-bolt main, and everywhere I inquired said it put out 315hp at the crank. It's a drop-in deal for our trucks. I am rebuilding my 4L60E, so I didn't worry about the transmission, just ordered a rebuild kit. For rebuild kit, I went with a Mag-Hytec pan, then ordered the converter and actual kit from Pro-Build Automatics. All of this ran me about $6,000 for everything I needed to do the engine swap and trans rebuild. I wasn't able to find any 4L60E's on Jegs, which is why I went to the rebuild instead. Granted, it's a very complicated task, but the Pro-Built kit does come with a step-by-step instructional CD. Guess it all depends on how much time and effort you want to put into it.

On the flip side, You can easily rebuild the engine for around the same price, with some pretty decent parts. I saved my old block for a future project, and just did the crate engine.