just ripped apart my 454...got a few ?'s about a rebuild....

[01maroonz71]

well, i obtained this 454 from a buddy of mine. he owns a mechanic shop, and somebody owed him money, so they gave him a 1990 3/4 suburban with 120k miles on it. he gave me this motor in trade for some other stuff. it ran when parked about 4 months ago, and they have been slowly robbing parts off of it for other trucks.


anyways, i went and picked it up yesterday and got it on my stand and tore into it. pulled the accessories/exhaust manifolds/intake and heads last night and the cylinder walls look awesome. a little carbon build up on a couple pistons, but all very clean for the miles.


today i pulled the oil pan, and saw that the rods and caps were all stamped 1-8. did they ever do that from the factory, or could this have been rebuilt.


im wanting to swap cams/intake/and get rid of the peanut port heads for some better ones.


should i rip this thing down any further or just run it???



im learning as i go about motors, as i know about suspension, but have never tore into a motor this far before. haha


any advice/input is greatly appreciated.
thanks
~Dave

 

[b454rat]

I think the stamps were factory, but not certain. If it looks good run it. I wanted to tear mine all apart, but didn't have the funds to do it. Get a cam/lifters, good set of heads, 049 or 781 are real good, alum intake, whatever carb, headers nice exhaust and you won't be disappointed.

Mine runs friggin awesome and it's all stock...

 

[sweetk30]

1-8 its been apart before.

up to you on how far you want to check it out.

and for a tourqe motor for 4x4 nothing wrong with good peanut ports. unless you have some 049 or 781 heads on hand.

 

[4X4HIGH]

The only time i've ever seen a GM engine stamped on the rods or mains is if it was a target master engine. If it was an original GM engine out of a vehicle GM never marked the rod or main caps (at least on anything from 1955-1997ish)

 

[howdiy]

Sounds like it was rebuilt, the original engine probably whiped out the plastic timing chain gears.

Thats how I got my suburban.

 

[76zimmer]

are the journals std?

 

[01maroonz71]

not sure what you mean by standard or not...i can say that the crank looks brand f'n new...and when we pulled the spark plugs, they looked brand new also......


ill go get some pictures for you guys and post em up.

 

[76zimmer]

std sized, or -.010, -.020 etc. turned undersize. If they look brand f'n new, I bet there aren't std. with 120K on them.

 

[01maroonz71]

well here are some pics....

 

[76zimmer]

just an FYI, my bores were still looking good, but the crank was .020 under. All my caps, and mains were stamped too. So you just never REALLY know what you got til you take it apart. I would at least check a rod or two, and at least one main to see the bearings. That crank does look clean though.

And nice score on the 4 bolt too.

 

[01maroonz71]

so i basically need to just get some plasti gauge and pull a few of the caps off and check right??? is that basicaally how i can check to make sure all is well????

thanks again guys!
~Dave

 

[76zimmer]

the back of the bearings should have a number stamped into them. std, .010, .020 etc. If they are smooth, and shiny gray colored, put em back on and run em.
throw a pic up here if you can.

 

[01maroonz71]

here are the pics i grabbed brother...thanks again


first are the rod bearings

and here is the front crank bearing....

 

[76zimmer]

kinda blurry, and wipe the oil off them, do they look smooth, with no gouges or deep scratches, do they have any discoloration, like wearing through the first layer of the bearing material, into the copper? Are the backs of them uniform in color, and no "hot spots", or heat discoloration, look to them?

 

[01maroonz71]

yeah, they look all uniform in color, there are a few light scratches, but not into the material at all, you can only see them, not feel them.



and i just pulled off the bearing again and this is what it says:



GM4

2621313

7 F 02

 

[76zimmer]

They sound like they're pretty good then. If they're smooth throughout the bearing surface, and uniform material of the original bearing surface, I'd maybe check it with some platigage, I'm sure they are fine, but then you know what you have.