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[Z06] In quite the pickle. Discovered damage to my motor when doing h/c/i. Need advice.
C6 Corvette ZR1 & Z06General info about GM’s Corvette Supercar, LS9 Corvette Technical Info, Performance Upgrades, Suspension Setup for Street or Track
In quite the pickle. Discovered damage to my motor when doing h/c/i. Need advice.
So my recently acquired 2013 z06 is my daily. I was doing some modifications and opened up a can of worms. It appears the pistons are rattling. So when this was seen I had the pan pulled and discovered some…interesting info. Looks like the car has arp hardware everywhere except the mains. Has a forged crank, there’s material missing on the bottoms of the pistons from it previously being damaged, has Manley rods. There is no metal in the oiling system. I was going to just throw it back together and wait out the inevitable. Then we discovered there is damaged to a cam bearing.
how should I proceed? I need the car as it’s my daily. Resleeving is going to take 4-6 months due to backlog based on what I’ve seen. My local machine shop is Seattle advised it would be quite the wait even on their end to resleeve it with darton sleeves. I found a 5.3/7.0 sleeved block available for a reasonable price.
Should I just go with the 5.3/7.0 block and sell my ls7 block? Should I store the 7.0 block? Does anyone have a source to do a fast rebuild on the ls7? I want to keep it a 7.0 and would prefer to keep the ls7 but I’m in a pinch.
Maybe I missed something, but why does it need to be re-sleeved? Is the cylinder out of round or something?
It seems to me that you need new cam bearings, a hone and some properly sized pistons, so it's gonna be a little bit before it's running again.
If I were you, I would definitely find a cheap daily and take the time to get this thing properly sorted out. It blows my mind that you have the engine pulled out from your daily driver lol, you've got some big *****.
The sleeved 5.3 block should work well assuming it's healthy. You'll probably lose a tiny bit of power up at high RPM compared to the LS7 block because it doesn't have the bay to bay breathing holes that the LS7 does. So it's really up to you how much that matters to you. It sounds like the fastest way to get it up and running would be to go that route, take your crank and rods from the LS7 and then get some new pistons and build it.
Texas Speed claims to have these 7 liter aluminum short blocks in stock, although you would have to have them install a long snout crankshaft for your LS7 dry sump oil pump. You may also want Darton sleeves instead of Power Bore, which is a $300 upgrade, I think. As far as that goes, the Power Bore sleeves may be fine. So, the crankshaft snout and cylinder sleeves may take Texas Speed a little while before it is ready for shipment. Once you get it, swap the heads, oil pan, intake and front accessories and you are ready to go.
Texas Speed claims to have these 7 liter aluminum short blocks in stock, although you would have to have them install a long snout crankshaft for your LS7 dry sump oil pump. You may also want Darton sleeves instead of Power Bore, which is a $300 upgrade, I think. As far as that goes, the Power Bore sleeves may be fine. So, the crankshaft snout and cylinder sleeves may take Texas Speed a little while before it is ready for shipment. Once you get it, swap the heads, oil pan, intake and front accessories and you are ready to go.
I'm weary of Texas speeds machine work honestly. I’ve heard some questionable things from friends in the industry in Houston. If I were there and not in Seattle I’d be squared away. But distance is the issue.
Maybe I missed something, but why does it need to be re-sleeved? Is the cylinder out of round or something?
It seems to me that you need new cam bearings, a hone and some properly sized pistons, so it's gonna be a little bit before it's running again.
If I were you, I would definitely find a cheap daily and take the time to get this thing properly sorted out. It blows my mind that you have the engine pulled out from your daily driver lol, you've got some big *****.
The sleeved 5.3 block should work well assuming it's healthy. You'll probably lose a tiny bit of power up at high RPM compared to the LS7 block because it doesn't have the bay to bay breathing holes that the LS7 does. So it's really up to you how much that matters to you. It sounds like the fastest way to get it up and running would be to go that route, take your crank and rods from the LS7 and then get some new pistons and build it.
Tbd if the walls are out of round. The best machine shop in Seattle is coming to check it out this week. I called in a favor because my shop does business with him.
I had the engine pulled to fix an oil leak, do the top end, and clutch at the same time. And apparently my bellhousing was cracked and I missed it initially.
Thinking you mean an AFTERMARKET forged crank, because all LS7s come OEM with forged cranks. I also agree with Bob570 that if all the cylinders look that "bad," than a light dingleberry will be plenty...
I'd buy a complete rotating assembly (crank, rods, pistons/rings, and bearings) and have your block honed with new cam bearings installed. Most come already balnced.
Very sorry to hear and see this. To be honest though a modded camed c6z06 is not gonna be a good daily driver. I would buy a Honda or something for that, and drive that while you figure out what your gonna do. Do not rush your re build, take your time and do it right. Putting anything else but an Ls7 back in will de value the car.
You do not want to daily this car. It will be cheaper for you to stop everything right now, and go spend $4-5000 on a daily.
Drive your daily, save your $$$, and have your motor redone correctly. You do not want to rush or cut corners with your build, it will cost you more in the long run
For the interim I’m putting a sleeve 5.3 from @Che70velle
I’m keeping the ls7 and it’s going into storage to be rebuilt in the future. The 5.3/7.0 will be built right. It’ll be down for a month or so vs an extended wait. I’m fine with it. It should make almost the exact same power.
For the interim I’m putting a sleeve 5.3 from @Che70velle
I’m keeping the ls7 and it’s going into storage to be rebuilt in the future. The 5.3/7.0 will be built right. It’ll be down for a month or so vs an extended wait. I’m fine with it. It should make almost the exact same power.
Your choice as to where to source the block is a good one. Scott is a straight up guy to deal with, and knows his stuff very well. I've never dealt with Texas Speed, so only know what I've heard. Seems things were somewhat better before they sold out to new owners. Scott uses Steve@RED for his sleeve work. I dont know if anyone else is as good, but nobody is better than RED. Sorry this happened to you, but your making good choices in my opinion....
I'm still curious as to why you need a new sleeve? Unless that's your best cylinder in the pic, and others are worse, it isn't terrible. Sure, it's not perfect, and nothing else is, either. I'd bet a good hone would eliminate most, if not all, of the very minor scoring. I do think the sleeved 5.3 is a good idea. But unless other cylinders are worse, I'd hone and send it. I'd also take great care to ensure long term storage doesn't damage the block and other usable internals, if keeping any. My opinion...
I'm still curious as to why you need a new sleeve? Unless that's your best cylinder in the pic, and others are worse, it isn't terrible. Sure, it's not perfect, and nothing else is, either. I'd bet a good hone would eliminate most, if not all, of the very minor scoring. I do think the sleeved 5.3 is a good idea. But unless other cylinders are worse, I'd hone and send it. I'd also take great care to ensure long term storage doesn't damage the block and other usable internals, if keeping any. My opinion...
machine shop said they can’t be honed again to be safe. It’s already been done to the engine already.
what’s a ls7 needing sleeves run for these days? Fiancé wants me to sell it lol. I want to store it away.
what’s a ls7 needing sleeves run for these days? Fiancé wants me to sell it lol. I want to store it away.
Id ask the guys ur getting the sleeved 5.3 from.. theyll prob know where the market is for something like that
They also could probably tell you if it would be worth saving.. (saving for a numbers matching thing?)
Ill add to this: theres alot of value in the motor in these cars but ALSO theres alot in the alum frame, carbon widebody panels, and TRUE coupe that ONLY the z06 and ZR1 share
Last edited by KennyPowers; 12-08-2023 at 11:24 AM.
machine shop said they can’t be honed again to be safe. It’s already been done to the engine already.
what’s a ls7 needing sleeves run for these days? Fiancé wants me to sell it lol. I want to store it away.
I seriously question your machine shops statement that it can't be honed again. You might remove .0005"-.0007". It's not like you're going to take out .001" total. Even if it was .001", if going with forged, 2618 pistons, they need a bit more clearance than the stock hypereutectic pistons, anyway. I'd be very interested in others opinions on this......
12-03-2023, 11:50 AM
In quite the pickle. Discovered damage to my motor when doing h/c/i. Need advice.
