Samwise

If it's for a head unit just ground it 

A full rebuild is around the £4K mark, if you only need the top half of an engine it might be cheaper.
Here's a couple of places / people that might be able to help you source an engine. They can be found from £2000 to £4000.
@Samwise has one for sale - see attached image.
Abbey Motorsport,
Fensport,
Tuning Developments,
Rogue Motorsport
Sam Nadeem - https://www.facebook.com/Saam27
Matt Baker - https://www.facebook.com/MBDevelopments1
 

Mega reply incoming... (excuse the inconsistancy at times, mostly copy and pasted from elsewhere )

==========================================
Another small update from last weekend.
Got the new Cam, Timing gear bits, Headgaskets & Refurbed heads back on the LS which was good fun.
Took a few hours doing it together with my dad and everything went in smoothly.
First off was the Cam which for anyone wondering (And not wanting to scroll back through the posts) is a Texas Speed LS3 Stage 3 cam:
https://www.texas-speed.com/p-5762-tsp-stage-3-ls3...
 

 
This went in nicely with a new timing gear, timing chain & Chain LS2 Chain guide.
The original Setup in the L92 was VVT so a big single-bolt setup with a tensioner, etc. Chucked all that away! (not really, might make a lamp out of the old cam) for a good old 3-bolt non-vvt setup. I believe there are now some pretty good ECU configs and info out there for VVT setups but half the reason for wanting to go LS was for some nicely grumbly noises so non-vvt was the way to go for that!
 
 

 
 
The next step on this end of things will be to install the new GM high performance oil pump but before that i'm going to open it up and pack it out with vaseline as a way of keeping it lubricated as well as helping it to build Oil presure when the time comes to start the engine as it will most likely sit for a good 6-12 months after i'm finished putting it together before it ever gets started up.
 
After that the new Headgaskets went on, again just using all OEM quality GM/ACdelco parts for this followed by the refurbed heads and the ARP head studs. ARP's head studs are most definitely overkill in this application but ohwell!
 
 


 
Next up will be the aformentioned oil pump bits. I also need to then take the engine off the stand to get the new aluminium oil barbell in and rear-cover on. Front cover will need to go on and then i'll also chuck on the old Oil pan (Rear sump, no good for my application), Valley cover and rocker covers (very mashed, going to replace) to just close it all up and chuck the inlet manifold on to keep it all together, so stay tuned for those pictures!
 
 
==================================
 
 
Another small but exciting update, the engine is now technically "Finsihed"
 
Popped round recently to install the last couple of pieces and close up the engine which is how it will mostly likely sit now over the winter.
 
The bottom and top end parts of the engine build can be watched here on my little youtube vids for anyone interested: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCk19Yu4ThvZ_GKqFP...
 
but in these final steps I had to get the engine off the stand to install the new aluminium Oil barbell (had heard it's a nice cheap safety step rather than relying on the old plastic ones to hold up) as well as get the new rear cover on with the real main seal already installed.
 
After that I packed out the Oil pump with vaseline to give it a helping hand when it finally times come to start it up, i'll probably end up priming it with oil as well before then anyway but it was a fairly easy thing to do so why not, finally it was a case of chucking on the final piece of the puzzle for deleting the VVT, the new LS3 timing cover and Cam sensor!
 
And then I just threw on the old valley cover and wonky rocker covers that I painted to tart up a little but i'm most definitely going to replace them with some new OEM or aftermarket items perhaps and then I threw on the intake manifold to close up the intake ports and "complete" the look.
The next things to go on will be the front pulley and accessory drive once I buy the latter but i'm in no rush to do that yet.
 
Such a difference from start to finish!
 
Before - Core L92

 
 
After - Rebuilt with no VVT, basically an LS3 with 0.5 less compression




 
From here i'll soon turn my attention back to the GT86 itself to start disassembling and removing the OEM Boxer engine and Gearbox, tidy and tart up the engine bay and eventually get the LS mated up to a brand new T56 and at home in there, things are going to slow down a bit now though as it'll require a fair chunk of change for the gearbox and other bits of kit.
I'll likely sell on the FA20 that comes out sooner rather than later as they often go on the market in the region of £2-3k 
 
===================================================
 
Expect some fun new updates after this weekend!
 
Gearing up to take apart the front end of the car and lift out the FA20 and gearbox from the engine bay. Apparently quite an easy thing to achieve as the vast majority of wiring stays on the engine itself with nice clean breaks. Here's the last look of the car in one piece today!
 

 
Oh and I just received the Engine swap kit from Sikky manufacturing today! Very excited as this should cover 90% of the headscratching and guessing that comes with an engine swap.
 
Definitely not any form of ad for them (I wish!) but included is:
Engine mounts
Gearbox Mounts (For T56 Magnum)
Front Oil pan to clear subframe/steering rack /w Oil pickup tube etc
Oil filter relocation kit
Brake line replacements to relocate them slightly
1 7/8" Exhaust headers 
And the Drive/Propshaft to bolt it up to the OEM rear diff.
 
One of three hurdles for the engine swap cleared, the next two being the purchase of the gearbox itself and the management/ECU solution but first i'll get the old engine out, tidy up the engine bay (probably have it painted) and start test fitting. 
 
 
=========================================================
 
So it's a bit tricky to drive my car currently, and the reason for that is well...


 
 
This weekend the engine somewhat fell out.. or atleast I wish it were that easy!
Spent Saturday and Sunday with a bit of help getting all of the body panels off, headlights, radiator, core support & crash structure out, fluids out, Prop/driveshaft & exhaust out and finally the engine & gearbox - quite alot!
I've not seen the car in this state for a few years now!
 
 
Generally a very easy engine to pull out, there's a few fuel lines, coolant hoses, heater pipes etc, 2 big connectors for the entire wiring harness and then just alternator/starter wires to pull off and thats it!
A bit of drama getting the centre console out so we could disconnect the gear lever and then we totatlly forgot to take it out anyway once we were done so it anded up tearing up a chunk of the heat insulation on the inside of the tunnel.. ohwell i'll probably tear that out and line it with some fancy gold tape or such in its place.
 

 
 
All in all a good fun couple of days of work on the car!
Kind of left wondering what to do next, I really really want to get the engine bay tidied up and painted but at the same time.. it looks like alot of effort getting it all cleared out with the brake/fuel lines, wiring, fuse box, etc to get to that point, but i do have the whole winter to mull it over really.
Need to start getting a few things sold now like the engine/gearbox and a few extras to get a bit of money together for the next big purchases.
 
Finally with all the new bits from Sikky arriving we couldn't help but open them up and get the LS dressed up with its fancy new headers. For some reason the view of it from the rear gets me all kinds of excited!
Think it really needs some wrinkle black rocker covers now to finish it off!
 


 

Mega reply incoming... (excuse the inconsistancy at times, mostly copy and pasted from elsewhere )

==========================================
Another small update from last weekend.
Got the new Cam, Timing gear bits, Headgaskets & Refurbed heads back on the LS which was good fun.
Took a few hours doing it together with my dad and everything went in smoothly.
First off was the Cam which for anyone wondering (And not wanting to scroll back through the posts) is a Texas Speed LS3 Stage 3 cam:
https://www.texas-speed.com/p-5762-tsp-stage-3-ls3...
 

 
This went in nicely with a new timing gear, timing chain & Chain LS2 Chain guide.
The original Setup in the L92 was VVT so a big single-bolt setup with a tensioner, etc. Chucked all that away! (not really, might make a lamp out of the old cam) for a good old 3-bolt non-vvt setup. I believe there are now some pretty good ECU configs and info out there for VVT setups but half the reason for wanting to go LS was for some nicely grumbly noises so non-vvt was the way to go for that!
 
 

 
 
The next step on this end of things will be to install the new GM high performance oil pump but before that i'm going to open it up and pack it out with vaseline as a way of keeping it lubricated as well as helping it to build Oil presure when the time comes to start the engine as it will most likely sit for a good 6-12 months after i'm finished putting it together before it ever gets started up.
 
After that the new Headgaskets went on, again just using all OEM quality GM/ACdelco parts for this followed by the refurbed heads and the ARP head studs. ARP's head studs are most definitely overkill in this application but ohwell!
 
 


 
Next up will be the aformentioned oil pump bits. I also need to then take the engine off the stand to get the new aluminium oil barbell in and rear-cover on. Front cover will need to go on and then i'll also chuck on the old Oil pan (Rear sump, no good for my application), Valley cover and rocker covers (very mashed, going to replace) to just close it all up and chuck the inlet manifold on to keep it all together, so stay tuned for those pictures!
 
 
==================================
 
 
Another small but exciting update, the engine is now technically "Finsihed"
 
Popped round recently to install the last couple of pieces and close up the engine which is how it will mostly likely sit now over the winter.
 
The bottom and top end parts of the engine build can be watched here on my little youtube vids for anyone interested: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCk19Yu4ThvZ_GKqFP...
 
but in these final steps I had to get the engine off the stand to install the new aluminium Oil barbell (had heard it's a nice cheap safety step rather than relying on the old plastic ones to hold up) as well as get the new rear cover on with the real main seal already installed.
 
After that I packed out the Oil pump with vaseline to give it a helping hand when it finally times come to start it up, i'll probably end up priming it with oil as well before then anyway but it was a fairly easy thing to do so why not, finally it was a case of chucking on the final piece of the puzzle for deleting the VVT, the new LS3 timing cover and Cam sensor!
 
And then I just threw on the old valley cover and wonky rocker covers that I painted to tart up a little but i'm most definitely going to replace them with some new OEM or aftermarket items perhaps and then I threw on the intake manifold to close up the intake ports and "complete" the look.
The next things to go on will be the front pulley and accessory drive once I buy the latter but i'm in no rush to do that yet.
 
Such a difference from start to finish!
 
Before - Core L92

 
 
After - Rebuilt with no VVT, basically an LS3 with 0.5 less compression




 
From here i'll soon turn my attention back to the GT86 itself to start disassembling and removing the OEM Boxer engine and Gearbox, tidy and tart up the engine bay and eventually get the LS mated up to a brand new T56 and at home in there, things are going to slow down a bit now though as it'll require a fair chunk of change for the gearbox and other bits of kit.
I'll likely sell on the FA20 that comes out sooner rather than later as they often go on the market in the region of £2-3k 
 
===================================================
 
Expect some fun new updates after this weekend!
 
Gearing up to take apart the front end of the car and lift out the FA20 and gearbox from the engine bay. Apparently quite an easy thing to achieve as the vast majority of wiring stays on the engine itself with nice clean breaks. Here's the last look of the car in one piece today!
 

 
Oh and I just received the Engine swap kit from Sikky manufacturing today! Very excited as this should cover 90% of the headscratching and guessing that comes with an engine swap.
 
Definitely not any form of ad for them (I wish!) but included is:
Engine mounts
Gearbox Mounts (For T56 Magnum)
Front Oil pan to clear subframe/steering rack /w Oil pickup tube etc
Oil filter relocation kit
Brake line replacements to relocate them slightly
1 7/8" Exhaust headers 
And the Drive/Propshaft to bolt it up to the OEM rear diff.
 
One of three hurdles for the engine swap cleared, the next two being the purchase of the gearbox itself and the management/ECU solution but first i'll get the old engine out, tidy up the engine bay (probably have it painted) and start test fitting. 
 
 
=========================================================
 
So it's a bit tricky to drive my car currently, and the reason for that is well...


 
 
This weekend the engine somewhat fell out.. or atleast I wish it were that easy!
Spent Saturday and Sunday with a bit of help getting all of the body panels off, headlights, radiator, core support & crash structure out, fluids out, Prop/driveshaft & exhaust out and finally the engine & gearbox - quite alot!
I've not seen the car in this state for a few years now!
 
 
Generally a very easy engine to pull out, there's a few fuel lines, coolant hoses, heater pipes etc, 2 big connectors for the entire wiring harness and then just alternator/starter wires to pull off and thats it!
A bit of drama getting the centre console out so we could disconnect the gear lever and then we totatlly forgot to take it out anyway once we were done so it anded up tearing up a chunk of the heat insulation on the inside of the tunnel.. ohwell i'll probably tear that out and line it with some fancy gold tape or such in its place.
 

 
 
All in all a good fun couple of days of work on the car!
Kind of left wondering what to do next, I really really want to get the engine bay tidied up and painted but at the same time.. it looks like alot of effort getting it all cleared out with the brake/fuel lines, wiring, fuse box, etc to get to that point, but i do have the whole winter to mull it over really.
Need to start getting a few things sold now like the engine/gearbox and a few extras to get a bit of money together for the next big purchases.
 
Finally with all the new bits from Sikky arriving we couldn't help but open them up and get the LS dressed up with its fancy new headers. For some reason the view of it from the rear gets me all kinds of excited!
Think it really needs some wrinkle black rocker covers now to finish it off!
 


 

I'm perhaps the best or worst person to answer this haha.
When i first got my car I originally fitted a vented Carbon bonnet and I dailied the car for about 18 months through all weather. During that time a bit of rain would just meant that the belt would slip for a few seconds when starting the car, no big deal really as i'd give it a rev and it would grab and be fine no problems!
 
But then after I took my car off the road for 5 odd months, did a load of work on it and eventually started driving it again suddenly one of my idle pulleys on the belt system had a bearing failure! (the one directly under the intake) it's hard to say whether this was caused by the 18 odd months of rain etc potentially getting on to the belt & pulley but I've not done anything about it since replacing the pulley, then again I don't daily the car anymore.
 
That's my experience atleast

And so finally today I was finally able to get my hands on it and see what was what!
My plan is to take it a little bit slow, not only to lessen the blow to my wallet but also to simply get things done right the first time rather than have to re-visit areas further down the line.
So I had already costed a few bits up before making the purchase, I know that the most expensive parts will be a set of headlights even if they are aftermarket and the Airbag set. Most of the parts im probably going to get from a Toyota dealer or online if they're cheap enough and legit.
So without further ado heres a few pics of my first day spannering on the car!
Here's how it sits in the garage, quite tight compared to the previous occupant and as you can see its still looking a little sorry for itself.
 


 
 
Couple of closeup of some of some of the damage
 



 
 
Quite a horrible sight! but with the fenders and the remnants of the headlights out of the way it was starting to look a bit better.

 
Those fenders are a bit of a pain to get off though!
The core support was a little tricky to get off with the washer bottle in the way and a few mildly bent bits of radiator support in the way but eventually after a few hours it was in a much better state and I could start checking out whether there was any further damage to be worried about.
 
Sorry for the blurry pic!

 
And the pile of parts that came off...

 
So now that the worst has been removed there's a couple of bit's im unsure about so I'm looking for a few second opinions!
 
The Top "branches" of the rad support are clearly bent and I'll replace those along with the enter of it that holds the bonnet lach mechanism however I'm wondering if a couple of other areas are bent which I wasn't expecting, namely these areas:
 


 
It almost appears they've come ever so slightly away and bent downwards from the rest of the frame, thoughts on this?
 
As well as this the bottom of the rad support actually looks straight which I was not expecting, can anyone confirm whether this looks right?
 


 
So thats it for now, the battery's completely dead as well so that's a bummer.
I'm going to have to get a shopping list together and start placing a few orders as I hope I've removed all the bent parts so far that don't need their spot welds drilled out, those will come next!
 
 

Right well.. it's been a little while since I last updated this post.. and that's not to say there hasn't been bits going on, i've just been so absurdly busy I keep forgetting to take photos!
 
For starters I finally moved out of my parent's house and got my first property, a decently sized little flat which has been an absolute rollercoaster of emotions and made and already very fast-moving year suddenly jump 3 months in the blink of an eye!
 
 
 
But getting back to the part you're all here for the car & engine although I have to pre-warn you as with alot of the recent engine-related posts it's quite nerdy!
 
After sprucing up the cylinder heads I wrapped those up and stuck them up on the shelf back in March and moved on to removing the pistons from the engine.
I flip flopped back and forth exactly what I was going to do with the internals of the engine and to what extent I was going to take it all apart - In the end I decided to not remove the crank & crank bearings down to a few factors, namely the fear of the main journals going out-of-round and replacing the main cap studs & bolts with ARP items which can get expensive already ontop of having shelled out for ARP head studs etc.
As well as this I decided on retaining the stock internals again because the rod journals are known to go out of round if you go with ARP rod bolts and there's so much drama when it comes to forged items if you're on a budget it's such a headache! - I'm glad I did this in the end because as I type this my lights might simply turn off at any moment due to the fact the flat didn't come with a pot to piss in!
 
With all of that I moved on to removing the Cam, lifters, etc and painting the engine block. All very easy and I made a couple of youtube videos covering the topics:
 
https://youtu.be/4Nu4iKF605k
https://youtu.be/1LR8d22JWXc
https://youtu.be/8iSihhg9jcA
 
 
And that neatly brings me on to where I am now, with freshly honed cylinder bores, measured tolerances & bearings and ready to assemble it all again, but as they always say - THIS THREAD IS USELESS WITHOUT PICTURES which was half my reason for a lack of update, i simply keep forgetting so lets see...
 
 
Nicely cleaned up & painted block:
 



 
 
Honed Cylinder bores:

 
Pistons ringed & ready to go!:

 
and the engine block again, this time featuring considerably more pistons!

 
 
 
As for the nerdy bits in regards to tolerances and clearances, here are my findings regarding the top & Middle compression rings and rod bearings:
 
OEM Top Ring clearances:
Production - 0.23‐0.44 mm
Service - 0.23‐0.5 mm
Mine - 0.5mm - so right on the upper edge of a "serviced" engine but It's not the end of the world.
 
OEM Second Ring clearances:
Production - 0.44-0.7mm
Service - 0.44-0.76mm
Mine - 0.56mm - well within even production specs so i'm quite happy with this!
 
Piston Rod Bearing clearances:
Production - 0.023-0.065mm
Service - 0.023-0.076mm
Mine - 0.051mm - Only measured using plastigage but considering this is right in the middle of the range i'm quite happy with this
 
 
And with that the lower end of the engine block is all back together and i've got 95% of the new parts required to close up the engine too!
 


 
If you're a fan of shopping lists boy do I have a fun one for you, in the above pics you're looking at:
 
Brand new intake manifold - /w gaskets, fuel rails, injectors, throttle body & map sensor (purchased "used" but it's very much as fresh as a daisy!)
Head gaskets
LS7 Lifters /w new lifter trays
New Cam Timing gear, chain & guide (required for the removal of VVT)
New Sensors & plugs all over
New cam retainer plate
New Front Timing cover /w seal & Gasket
New Rear main cover /w main seal
More gaskets - Valley cover & Exhaust manifold
New front Pulley
ARP Cam Bolts
ARP Exhaust Manifold Bolts
ARP Head Studs
ARP Pulley bolt
& More bolts, brackets & otherwise as well as the bits I showed off in previous posts.
 
All that really leaves to close up the engine for good is a pair of new rocker covers as mine are rather nasty, a new valley cover simply because I want to and the new Sump pan & pickup tube which comes with the engine swap kit.
 
Next weekend I'm going to get the new Cam, lifters, timing bits and perhaps even the refurbed heads back on and in a way the engine build is then "done"

Right well.. it's been a little while since I last updated this post.. and that's not to say there hasn't been bits going on, i've just been so absurdly busy I keep forgetting to take photos!
 
For starters I finally moved out of my parent's house and got my first property, a decently sized little flat which has been an absolute rollercoaster of emotions and made and already very fast-moving year suddenly jump 3 months in the blink of an eye!
 
 
 
But getting back to the part you're all here for the car & engine although I have to pre-warn you as with alot of the recent engine-related posts it's quite nerdy!
 
After sprucing up the cylinder heads I wrapped those up and stuck them up on the shelf back in March and moved on to removing the pistons from the engine.
I flip flopped back and forth exactly what I was going to do with the internals of the engine and to what extent I was going to take it all apart - In the end I decided to not remove the crank & crank bearings down to a few factors, namely the fear of the main journals going out-of-round and replacing the main cap studs & bolts with ARP items which can get expensive already ontop of having shelled out for ARP head studs etc.
As well as this I decided on retaining the stock internals again because the rod journals are known to go out of round if you go with ARP rod bolts and there's so much drama when it comes to forged items if you're on a budget it's such a headache! - I'm glad I did this in the end because as I type this my lights might simply turn off at any moment due to the fact the flat didn't come with a pot to piss in!
 
With all of that I moved on to removing the Cam, lifters, etc and painting the engine block. All very easy and I made a couple of youtube videos covering the topics:
 
https://youtu.be/4Nu4iKF605k
https://youtu.be/1LR8d22JWXc
https://youtu.be/8iSihhg9jcA
 
 
And that neatly brings me on to where I am now, with freshly honed cylinder bores, measured tolerances & bearings and ready to assemble it all again, but as they always say - THIS THREAD IS USELESS WITHOUT PICTURES which was half my reason for a lack of update, i simply keep forgetting so lets see...
 
 
Nicely cleaned up & painted block:
 



 
 
Honed Cylinder bores:

 
Pistons ringed & ready to go!:

 
and the engine block again, this time featuring considerably more pistons!

 
 
 
As for the nerdy bits in regards to tolerances and clearances, here are my findings regarding the top & Middle compression rings and rod bearings:
 
OEM Top Ring clearances:
Production - 0.23‐0.44 mm
Service - 0.23‐0.5 mm
Mine - 0.5mm - so right on the upper edge of a "serviced" engine but It's not the end of the world.
 
OEM Second Ring clearances:
Production - 0.44-0.7mm
Service - 0.44-0.76mm
Mine - 0.56mm - well within even production specs so i'm quite happy with this!
 
Piston Rod Bearing clearances:
Production - 0.023-0.065mm
Service - 0.023-0.076mm
Mine - 0.051mm - Only measured using plastigage but considering this is right in the middle of the range i'm quite happy with this
 
 
And with that the lower end of the engine block is all back together and i've got 95% of the new parts required to close up the engine too!
 


 
If you're a fan of shopping lists boy do I have a fun one for you, in the above pics you're looking at:
 
Brand new intake manifold - /w gaskets, fuel rails, injectors, throttle body & map sensor (purchased "used" but it's very much as fresh as a daisy!)
Head gaskets
LS7 Lifters /w new lifter trays
New Cam Timing gear, chain & guide (required for the removal of VVT)
New Sensors & plugs all over
New cam retainer plate
New Front Timing cover /w seal & Gasket
New Rear main cover /w main seal
More gaskets - Valley cover & Exhaust manifold
New front Pulley
ARP Cam Bolts
ARP Exhaust Manifold Bolts
ARP Head Studs
ARP Pulley bolt
& More bolts, brackets & otherwise as well as the bits I showed off in previous posts.
 
All that really leaves to close up the engine for good is a pair of new rocker covers as mine are rather nasty, a new valley cover simply because I want to and the new Sump pan & pickup tube which comes with the engine swap kit.
 
Next weekend I'm going to get the new Cam, lifters, timing bits and perhaps even the refurbed heads back on and in a way the engine build is then "done"

Right well.. it's been a little while since I last updated this post.. and that's not to say there hasn't been bits going on, i've just been so absurdly busy I keep forgetting to take photos!
 
For starters I finally moved out of my parent's house and got my first property, a decently sized little flat which has been an absolute rollercoaster of emotions and made and already very fast-moving year suddenly jump 3 months in the blink of an eye!
 
 
 
But getting back to the part you're all here for the car & engine although I have to pre-warn you as with alot of the recent engine-related posts it's quite nerdy!
 
After sprucing up the cylinder heads I wrapped those up and stuck them up on the shelf back in March and moved on to removing the pistons from the engine.
I flip flopped back and forth exactly what I was going to do with the internals of the engine and to what extent I was going to take it all apart - In the end I decided to not remove the crank & crank bearings down to a few factors, namely the fear of the main journals going out-of-round and replacing the main cap studs & bolts with ARP items which can get expensive already ontop of having shelled out for ARP head studs etc.
As well as this I decided on retaining the stock internals again because the rod journals are known to go out of round if you go with ARP rod bolts and there's so much drama when it comes to forged items if you're on a budget it's such a headache! - I'm glad I did this in the end because as I type this my lights might simply turn off at any moment due to the fact the flat didn't come with a pot to piss in!
 
With all of that I moved on to removing the Cam, lifters, etc and painting the engine block. All very easy and I made a couple of youtube videos covering the topics:
 
https://youtu.be/4Nu4iKF605k
https://youtu.be/1LR8d22JWXc
https://youtu.be/8iSihhg9jcA
 
 
And that neatly brings me on to where I am now, with freshly honed cylinder bores, measured tolerances & bearings and ready to assemble it all again, but as they always say - THIS THREAD IS USELESS WITHOUT PICTURES which was half my reason for a lack of update, i simply keep forgetting so lets see...
 
 
Nicely cleaned up & painted block:
 



 
 
Honed Cylinder bores:

 
Pistons ringed & ready to go!:

 
and the engine block again, this time featuring considerably more pistons!

 
 
 
As for the nerdy bits in regards to tolerances and clearances, here are my findings regarding the top & Middle compression rings and rod bearings:
 
OEM Top Ring clearances:
Production - 0.23‐0.44 mm
Service - 0.23‐0.5 mm
Mine - 0.5mm - so right on the upper edge of a "serviced" engine but It's not the end of the world.
 
OEM Second Ring clearances:
Production - 0.44-0.7mm
Service - 0.44-0.76mm
Mine - 0.56mm - well within even production specs so i'm quite happy with this!
 
Piston Rod Bearing clearances:
Production - 0.023-0.065mm
Service - 0.023-0.076mm
Mine - 0.051mm - Only measured using plastigage but considering this is right in the middle of the range i'm quite happy with this
 
 
And with that the lower end of the engine block is all back together and i've got 95% of the new parts required to close up the engine too!
 


 
If you're a fan of shopping lists boy do I have a fun one for you, in the above pics you're looking at:
 
Brand new intake manifold - /w gaskets, fuel rails, injectors, throttle body & map sensor (purchased "used" but it's very much as fresh as a daisy!)
Head gaskets
LS7 Lifters /w new lifter trays
New Cam Timing gear, chain & guide (required for the removal of VVT)
New Sensors & plugs all over
New cam retainer plate
New Front Timing cover /w seal & Gasket
New Rear main cover /w main seal
More gaskets - Valley cover & Exhaust manifold
New front Pulley
ARP Cam Bolts
ARP Exhaust Manifold Bolts
ARP Head Studs
ARP Pulley bolt
& More bolts, brackets & otherwise as well as the bits I showed off in previous posts.
 
All that really leaves to close up the engine for good is a pair of new rocker covers as mine are rather nasty, a new valley cover simply because I want to and the new Sump pan & pickup tube which comes with the engine swap kit.
 
Next weekend I'm going to get the new Cam, lifters, timing bits and perhaps even the refurbed heads back on and in a way the engine build is then "done"

Right well.. it's been a little while since I last updated this post.. and that's not to say there hasn't been bits going on, i've just been so absurdly busy I keep forgetting to take photos!
 
For starters I finally moved out of my parent's house and got my first property, a decently sized little flat which has been an absolute rollercoaster of emotions and made and already very fast-moving year suddenly jump 3 months in the blink of an eye!
 
 
 
But getting back to the part you're all here for the car & engine although I have to pre-warn you as with alot of the recent engine-related posts it's quite nerdy!
 
After sprucing up the cylinder heads I wrapped those up and stuck them up on the shelf back in March and moved on to removing the pistons from the engine.
I flip flopped back and forth exactly what I was going to do with the internals of the engine and to what extent I was going to take it all apart - In the end I decided to not remove the crank & crank bearings down to a few factors, namely the fear of the main journals going out-of-round and replacing the main cap studs & bolts with ARP items which can get expensive already ontop of having shelled out for ARP head studs etc.
As well as this I decided on retaining the stock internals again because the rod journals are known to go out of round if you go with ARP rod bolts and there's so much drama when it comes to forged items if you're on a budget it's such a headache! - I'm glad I did this in the end because as I type this my lights might simply turn off at any moment due to the fact the flat didn't come with a pot to piss in!
 
With all of that I moved on to removing the Cam, lifters, etc and painting the engine block. All very easy and I made a couple of youtube videos covering the topics:
 
https://youtu.be/4Nu4iKF605k
https://youtu.be/1LR8d22JWXc
https://youtu.be/8iSihhg9jcA
 
 
And that neatly brings me on to where I am now, with freshly honed cylinder bores, measured tolerances & bearings and ready to assemble it all again, but as they always say - THIS THREAD IS USELESS WITHOUT PICTURES which was half my reason for a lack of update, i simply keep forgetting so lets see...
 
 
Nicely cleaned up & painted block:
 



 
 
Honed Cylinder bores:

 
Pistons ringed & ready to go!:

 
and the engine block again, this time featuring considerably more pistons!

 
 
 
As for the nerdy bits in regards to tolerances and clearances, here are my findings regarding the top & Middle compression rings and rod bearings:
 
OEM Top Ring clearances:
Production - 0.23‐0.44 mm
Service - 0.23‐0.5 mm
Mine - 0.5mm - so right on the upper edge of a "serviced" engine but It's not the end of the world.
 
OEM Second Ring clearances:
Production - 0.44-0.7mm
Service - 0.44-0.76mm
Mine - 0.56mm - well within even production specs so i'm quite happy with this!
 
Piston Rod Bearing clearances:
Production - 0.023-0.065mm
Service - 0.023-0.076mm
Mine - 0.051mm - Only measured using plastigage but considering this is right in the middle of the range i'm quite happy with this
 
 
And with that the lower end of the engine block is all back together and i've got 95% of the new parts required to close up the engine too!
 


 
If you're a fan of shopping lists boy do I have a fun one for you, in the above pics you're looking at:
 
Brand new intake manifold - /w gaskets, fuel rails, injectors, throttle body & map sensor (purchased "used" but it's very much as fresh as a daisy!)
Head gaskets
LS7 Lifters /w new lifter trays
New Cam Timing gear, chain & guide (required for the removal of VVT)
New Sensors & plugs all over
New cam retainer plate
New Front Timing cover /w seal & Gasket
New Rear main cover /w main seal
More gaskets - Valley cover & Exhaust manifold
New front Pulley
ARP Cam Bolts
ARP Exhaust Manifold Bolts
ARP Head Studs
ARP Pulley bolt
& More bolts, brackets & otherwise as well as the bits I showed off in previous posts.
 
All that really leaves to close up the engine for good is a pair of new rocker covers as mine are rather nasty, a new valley cover simply because I want to and the new Sump pan & pickup tube which comes with the engine swap kit.
 
Next weekend I'm going to get the new Cam, lifters, timing bits and perhaps even the refurbed heads back on and in a way the engine build is then "done"

Right well.. it's been a little while since I last updated this post.. and that's not to say there hasn't been bits going on, i've just been so absurdly busy I keep forgetting to take photos!
 
For starters I finally moved out of my parent's house and got my first property, a decently sized little flat which has been an absolute rollercoaster of emotions and made and already very fast-moving year suddenly jump 3 months in the blink of an eye!
 
 
 
But getting back to the part you're all here for the car & engine although I have to pre-warn you as with alot of the recent engine-related posts it's quite nerdy!
 
After sprucing up the cylinder heads I wrapped those up and stuck them up on the shelf back in March and moved on to removing the pistons from the engine.
I flip flopped back and forth exactly what I was going to do with the internals of the engine and to what extent I was going to take it all apart - In the end I decided to not remove the crank & crank bearings down to a few factors, namely the fear of the main journals going out-of-round and replacing the main cap studs & bolts with ARP items which can get expensive already ontop of having shelled out for ARP head studs etc.
As well as this I decided on retaining the stock internals again because the rod journals are known to go out of round if you go with ARP rod bolts and there's so much drama when it comes to forged items if you're on a budget it's such a headache! - I'm glad I did this in the end because as I type this my lights might simply turn off at any moment due to the fact the flat didn't come with a pot to piss in!
 
With all of that I moved on to removing the Cam, lifters, etc and painting the engine block. All very easy and I made a couple of youtube videos covering the topics:
 
https://youtu.be/4Nu4iKF605k
https://youtu.be/1LR8d22JWXc
https://youtu.be/8iSihhg9jcA
 
 
And that neatly brings me on to where I am now, with freshly honed cylinder bores, measured tolerances & bearings and ready to assemble it all again, but as they always say - THIS THREAD IS USELESS WITHOUT PICTURES which was half my reason for a lack of update, i simply keep forgetting so lets see...
 
 
Nicely cleaned up & painted block:
 



 
 
Honed Cylinder bores:

 
Pistons ringed & ready to go!:

 
and the engine block again, this time featuring considerably more pistons!

 
 
 
As for the nerdy bits in regards to tolerances and clearances, here are my findings regarding the top & Middle compression rings and rod bearings:
 
OEM Top Ring clearances:
Production - 0.23‐0.44 mm
Service - 0.23‐0.5 mm
Mine - 0.5mm - so right on the upper edge of a "serviced" engine but It's not the end of the world.
 
OEM Second Ring clearances:
Production - 0.44-0.7mm
Service - 0.44-0.76mm
Mine - 0.56mm - well within even production specs so i'm quite happy with this!
 
Piston Rod Bearing clearances:
Production - 0.023-0.065mm
Service - 0.023-0.076mm
Mine - 0.051mm - Only measured using plastigage but considering this is right in the middle of the range i'm quite happy with this
 
 
And with that the lower end of the engine block is all back together and i've got 95% of the new parts required to close up the engine too!
 


 
If you're a fan of shopping lists boy do I have a fun one for you, in the above pics you're looking at:
 
Brand new intake manifold - /w gaskets, fuel rails, injectors, throttle body & map sensor (purchased "used" but it's very much as fresh as a daisy!)
Head gaskets
LS7 Lifters /w new lifter trays
New Cam Timing gear, chain & guide (required for the removal of VVT)
New Sensors & plugs all over
New cam retainer plate
New Front Timing cover /w seal & Gasket
New Rear main cover /w main seal
More gaskets - Valley cover & Exhaust manifold
New front Pulley
ARP Cam Bolts
ARP Exhaust Manifold Bolts
ARP Head Studs
ARP Pulley bolt
& More bolts, brackets & otherwise as well as the bits I showed off in previous posts.
 
All that really leaves to close up the engine for good is a pair of new rocker covers as mine are rather nasty, a new valley cover simply because I want to and the new Sump pan & pickup tube which comes with the engine swap kit.
 
Next weekend I'm going to get the new Cam, lifters, timing bits and perhaps even the refurbed heads back on and in a way the engine build is then "done"

I use PB Brakes which are made in the same factory as K-sport & D2 brakes (And they're cheaper!) and as far as I'm aware yes, when you specify the larger disk size it's all the same gear just with a different bracket.

Another video update this week!
 
got the heads for the LS3 buttoned up, cleaned up the second head, proceeded to lap the valves and then re-install them along with brand new valve springs, seats/seals and the refreshed and upgraded rocker arms!
 
There's unfortunately not much else to say than that! It took quite a bit of time and alot of elbow grease to get them cleaned up as thoroughly as I could and then all 16 (thankfully only 16!) valves as they were quite heavily pitted, especially in the case of the exhaust valves.
 
Without further ado the pictures to show it all off and the video to accompany them!
 




 
 
 
 

I'm actually following you on YouTube now, would love to do a V8 swap myself! 

Been slowly moving ahead on tearing down and cleaning up the Internals of the LS ready to go back together with the shiny new parts.
I'm having to be particularly thorough with it moreso than I was perhaps hoping for. As the engine was a core it's clearly sat for sometime and is just mega sludgy and crusty throughout. Definitely the kind of thing that should've been hot tanked but in my ignorance i assumed the cost would be fairly high and wanted to clean it out myself. I might still get the block hot tanked but for now.. on with the show!

Following the removal of the valves and getting the rocker arms apart the next setp was to clean up the rocker arms, they were perfectly useable as is but i didn't fancy putting the oil-black (rocker arms in with the shiny new valves, valve springs etc and as well as that I had to get the new trunnion bearing upgrade install.


The Bearing upgrade I went for was from the more expensive range of trunnion bearing upgrades as it features brass bearings rather than needle bearings once again but the reason i went for this particular one was it's ease of installation as it doesn't require the bearings to be pressed in and simply needs a pair of circlip pliers!


Here's a before and after of the old grimey rocker arm compared to a lovely cleaned and polished up one.







After cleaned up everything get chucked back in to a container of fresh oil to keep it from rusting and also to prepare it for the trunnion bearing upgrade install.
Every component of the bearing has to be covered in oil or assembly lube when being put together so it's easier just to keep them chilling in the oil as they'll likely sit there for some time after until finally being installed in to the heads.


Moving on to the bearing upgrade it was very easy for all 16 rocker arms, the hardest part is simply installing the circlips and making sure they don't launch themselves in to the stratosphere. Once done they look pretty smart!



        With all of that covered off in the above video I moved on to the next task. Wanting to get the heads all finished before moving on to the block, pistons and crank they were in a severe need of cleaning, muck like the block itself the insides of the heads are filled with gunky sludgy old oil and carbon, buildup from the coolant system, etc. At this stage i'm thinking it might be better to just bite the bullet and get a machine shop to clean it all but i've already bought the parts washer, degreaser and brake cleaner, etc so feel I may as well persevere for now!   Armed with copious amounts of brake cleaner and elbow grease I was able to get one of the heads pretty darn clean if i say so myself. It took around 3 hours and only the most stubborn of oil stains and carbon buildup is left over, largely on the exhaust ports but i'm not overly fussed about that as it will soon build up again or come off after the engine's first "Italian tune up"   All of this will be covered in my next video but I couldn't help showing it off as I have to say im rather proud of how they turned out, i wasn't so sure they were particularly salvagable by hand, i still might take the block itself to a machine shop to make sure all the oil passage ways and cylinder bores are cleaned thoroughly but the heads came out pretty well by hand! Check out the comparison of the old crusty state the heads were in and the new shiny cleaned up head!  
 

The handling fee is for them taking the time out of their busy day to charge you all the other bits!

Part number of the surround itself is - SU00301519
Fog light part number is (i think, might be worth double checking with toyota) - SU00302518
That includes the light, brackets, bulb, the lot.
Indicator part number is - SU00302535
 
 

not too badly, boxer engines are really wide and the LS itself is rather small compared to most engines thanks to the fact it doesn't have over head cams.
Here's a similar small block chevy v8 next to a Ford 5.0 Coyote V8:

Need to preface this latest update by apologising for the lack of Pictures!

I've been so busy I totally forgot to snap away some pics while i've been working on things!


Anyway with that said I have been starting some work on the LS3 which is of course rather exciting. With money the main factor in really moving along with engine related work I wanted to start off by doing a few bits that are free, namely cleaning up the grubby exterior of the engine and starting to disassemble it. Cleaning it up is no rocket science, being that I am planning to strip the engine down in almost it's entirety I decided to go at it in a rather blunt way with simple some oven cleaner and pressure washer. Being that the block and heads are Aluminium there's no real risk of them rusting externally but I largely wanted to get off any oily or loose grime hanging on so I can later paint the block before it gets anywhere near my car and in the process I found a rather alarming issue.. it wouldn't turn over by hand anymore!


That brings me on to the first of my latest videos:
  Now going on from here I went back the next week to obviously work out what on earth was causing the engine to seize at that point in the crank rotation. I wasn't really worried about the engine being totally seized as I've been periodically turning it over and spraying fogging oil in to it to keep everything nice and lubricated but clearly something was causing it to jam up.. Time to tear it down!   So that Weekend with the help of my Dad who's been itching to tear in to the engine with me we stripped the heads off the block and found the engine to generally be in a pretty sludgy oily state, it's by no means bad condition simply used and likely without too many frequent oil changes. The oil that was left in the engine has clearly been in there for a while, probably through a few heat cycles, etc etc. If anyone's an Oily science person (technical term) i'm sure they can give their 2 cents as to what they think All that aside however simply taking the heads off the block and lightly wiping off any excess sludge and oil from the top of the pistons didn't free up the engine, so next we whipped off the front timing cover and found nothing particularly stuck or otherwise in the timing change, etc. However when we took off the oil pump.. eureka! the engine was freed up again and could turn over as many times as we wanted, nice and smoothly too i might add! Upon taking the oil pump apart it seems the gears inside were not dry by any means but simple got stuck together or perhaps sliped/jumped a tooth etc, not an issue i'm aware is quite common but perhaps where i've been turning the engine over by hand all this time with no oil in the pump these things happen, it's not the end of the world however as I was always planning to replace it regardless and that gets me on to my plans for the engine...   Now plans wise I want to give the engine what I would consider a pretty standard rebuild. I'm not going to be attacking the bores with a bore gauge or the crank journals with a micrometer and subsequently re-boring or grinding them if they don't need it. I will however be checking the head's aren't warped, checking the bearing tolerances (with plastigage albeit, i'm not made of money for the big boy tools!) and re-honing the bores of the block. From my initial inspection everything is worn very well and there are no alarming amounts of scoring that would indicate anything to worry about, everything generally looks in tip top shape just oily.. stained, etc!   So with that said here's the list of things i'm planning to do to it: - New Rod bearings (will check clearances with plastigage, don't really have funds for big boy tools)
- New Piston Rings (Will gap accordingly)
- Hone Piston Bores
- Connecting rod ARP Bolts
- Leaving Crank & Main caps in place, not removing (this might change, i've had a change of heart and will research further)
- New Lifters & Lifter Trays
- New Gaskets and Seals throughout ( Everything from head gaskets, sump, valley cover, front & rear cover, etc)
- Cam Swap + 3 bolt 58 tooth x4 Cam gear
- New Cam Retainer Plate
- LS2 timing chain guide + new chain
- New timing cover /w front main seal + cam sensor
- New Rear cover /w rear main seal
- Rear Oil barbell
- Hardened Pushrods
- Rocker Arm Trunnion bearing upgrade
- New Valve Springs
- Clean, reuse & re-lap old valves to head
- New GM Performance Oil pump + Pickup brace
- New LS3 Intake Manifold /w Attachments
- ATI superdamper (no pulley on engine when purchased)
- New front accessories (none with engine currently)
 
I've posted this to a couple of LS Swap groups and had some pretty good responses and no one jumping at the chance to flame me for being a fool (atleast not in regards to the LS!) so i'm pretty confident that this is a fairly sensible direction to head in. Of course without going the full lenghts of re-boring, crank grinding, measuring with proper tools etc the engine is never going to become some kind of monster race engine but I simply don't have the money, time, etc to do those things nor to be able to pay someone to build the engine for me. These engines are fairly robust ofcourse and as long as don't do anything silly like fit the wrong bearings or try and fit round pistons in oval bores I feel i should be fairly safe.
 
And with that all said it gets me on to my next couple of things... firstly I will ofcourse be utterly soaking this engine top to bottom in degreaser and going over as best I can to clean out any water, oil passages etc. Heck i even bought a little Bench mounted parts washer which is exciting and 25L of degreaser concentrate, so that'll probably last me a lifetime! and further to all that i've already ordered a couple of part that have arrived!
 
What you'll see below is a Texas Speed LS3 Stage 3 NA cam (look it up for the specs or check out my video!) which i'd be pretty conservative in saying should give an additional 50hp to the engine along with their .660 lift dual valve spring kit, hardened push rods, CHE Trunnion bearing replacement (a weak point of LS engines) and the new oem GM high performance oil pump!
 
 
 
and the following video to tie it all together!
 
 

Need to preface this latest update by apologising for the lack of Pictures!

I've been so busy I totally forgot to snap away some pics while i've been working on things!


Anyway with that said I have been starting some work on the LS3 which is of course rather exciting. With money the main factor in really moving along with engine related work I wanted to start off by doing a few bits that are free, namely cleaning up the grubby exterior of the engine and starting to disassemble it. Cleaning it up is no rocket science, being that I am planning to strip the engine down in almost it's entirety I decided to go at it in a rather blunt way with simple some oven cleaner and pressure washer. Being that the block and heads are Aluminium there's no real risk of them rusting externally but I largely wanted to get off any oily or loose grime hanging on so I can later paint the block before it gets anywhere near my car and in the process I found a rather alarming issue.. it wouldn't turn over by hand anymore!


That brings me on to the first of my latest videos:
  Now going on from here I went back the next week to obviously work out what on earth was causing the engine to seize at that point in the crank rotation. I wasn't really worried about the engine being totally seized as I've been periodically turning it over and spraying fogging oil in to it to keep everything nice and lubricated but clearly something was causing it to jam up.. Time to tear it down!   So that Weekend with the help of my Dad who's been itching to tear in to the engine with me we stripped the heads off the block and found the engine to generally be in a pretty sludgy oily state, it's by no means bad condition simply used and likely without too many frequent oil changes. The oil that was left in the engine has clearly been in there for a while, probably through a few heat cycles, etc etc. If anyone's an Oily science person (technical term) i'm sure they can give their 2 cents as to what they think All that aside however simply taking the heads off the block and lightly wiping off any excess sludge and oil from the top of the pistons didn't free up the engine, so next we whipped off the front timing cover and found nothing particularly stuck or otherwise in the timing change, etc. However when we took off the oil pump.. eureka! the engine was freed up again and could turn over as many times as we wanted, nice and smoothly too i might add! Upon taking the oil pump apart it seems the gears inside were not dry by any means but simple got stuck together or perhaps sliped/jumped a tooth etc, not an issue i'm aware is quite common but perhaps where i've been turning the engine over by hand all this time with no oil in the pump these things happen, it's not the end of the world however as I was always planning to replace it regardless and that gets me on to my plans for the engine...   Now plans wise I want to give the engine what I would consider a pretty standard rebuild. I'm not going to be attacking the bores with a bore gauge or the crank journals with a micrometer and subsequently re-boring or grinding them if they don't need it. I will however be checking the head's aren't warped, checking the bearing tolerances (with plastigage albeit, i'm not made of money for the big boy tools!) and re-honing the bores of the block. From my initial inspection everything is worn very well and there are no alarming amounts of scoring that would indicate anything to worry about, everything generally looks in tip top shape just oily.. stained, etc!   So with that said here's the list of things i'm planning to do to it: - New Rod bearings (will check clearances with plastigage, don't really have funds for big boy tools)
- New Piston Rings (Will gap accordingly)
- Hone Piston Bores
- Connecting rod ARP Bolts
- Leaving Crank & Main caps in place, not removing (this might change, i've had a change of heart and will research further)
- New Lifters & Lifter Trays
- New Gaskets and Seals throughout ( Everything from head gaskets, sump, valley cover, front & rear cover, etc)
- Cam Swap + 3 bolt 58 tooth x4 Cam gear
- New Cam Retainer Plate
- LS2 timing chain guide + new chain
- New timing cover /w front main seal + cam sensor
- New Rear cover /w rear main seal
- Rear Oil barbell
- Hardened Pushrods
- Rocker Arm Trunnion bearing upgrade
- New Valve Springs
- Clean, reuse & re-lap old valves to head
- New GM Performance Oil pump + Pickup brace
- New LS3 Intake Manifold /w Attachments
- ATI superdamper (no pulley on engine when purchased)
- New front accessories (none with engine currently)
 
I've posted this to a couple of LS Swap groups and had some pretty good responses and no one jumping at the chance to flame me for being a fool (atleast not in regards to the LS!) so i'm pretty confident that this is a fairly sensible direction to head in. Of course without going the full lenghts of re-boring, crank grinding, measuring with proper tools etc the engine is never going to become some kind of monster race engine but I simply don't have the money, time, etc to do those things nor to be able to pay someone to build the engine for me. These engines are fairly robust ofcourse and as long as don't do anything silly like fit the wrong bearings or try and fit round pistons in oval bores I feel i should be fairly safe.
 
And with that all said it gets me on to my next couple of things... firstly I will ofcourse be utterly soaking this engine top to bottom in degreaser and going over as best I can to clean out any water, oil passages etc. Heck i even bought a little Bench mounted parts washer which is exciting and 25L of degreaser concentrate, so that'll probably last me a lifetime! and further to all that i've already ordered a couple of part that have arrived!
 
What you'll see below is a Texas Speed LS3 Stage 3 NA cam (look it up for the specs or check out my video!) which i'd be pretty conservative in saying should give an additional 50hp to the engine along with their .660 lift dual valve spring kit, hardened push rods, CHE Trunnion bearing replacement (a weak point of LS engines) and the new oem GM high performance oil pump!
 
 
 
and the following video to tie it all together!
 
 

Need to preface this latest update by apologising for the lack of Pictures!

I've been so busy I totally forgot to snap away some pics while i've been working on things!


Anyway with that said I have been starting some work on the LS3 which is of course rather exciting. With money the main factor in really moving along with engine related work I wanted to start off by doing a few bits that are free, namely cleaning up the grubby exterior of the engine and starting to disassemble it. Cleaning it up is no rocket science, being that I am planning to strip the engine down in almost it's entirety I decided to go at it in a rather blunt way with simple some oven cleaner and pressure washer. Being that the block and heads are Aluminium there's no real risk of them rusting externally but I largely wanted to get off any oily or loose grime hanging on so I can later paint the block before it gets anywhere near my car and in the process I found a rather alarming issue.. it wouldn't turn over by hand anymore!


That brings me on to the first of my latest videos:
  Now going on from here I went back the next week to obviously work out what on earth was causing the engine to seize at that point in the crank rotation. I wasn't really worried about the engine being totally seized as I've been periodically turning it over and spraying fogging oil in to it to keep everything nice and lubricated but clearly something was causing it to jam up.. Time to tear it down!   So that Weekend with the help of my Dad who's been itching to tear in to the engine with me we stripped the heads off the block and found the engine to generally be in a pretty sludgy oily state, it's by no means bad condition simply used and likely without too many frequent oil changes. The oil that was left in the engine has clearly been in there for a while, probably through a few heat cycles, etc etc. If anyone's an Oily science person (technical term) i'm sure they can give their 2 cents as to what they think All that aside however simply taking the heads off the block and lightly wiping off any excess sludge and oil from the top of the pistons didn't free up the engine, so next we whipped off the front timing cover and found nothing particularly stuck or otherwise in the timing change, etc. However when we took off the oil pump.. eureka! the engine was freed up again and could turn over as many times as we wanted, nice and smoothly too i might add! Upon taking the oil pump apart it seems the gears inside were not dry by any means but simple got stuck together or perhaps sliped/jumped a tooth etc, not an issue i'm aware is quite common but perhaps where i've been turning the engine over by hand all this time with no oil in the pump these things happen, it's not the end of the world however as I was always planning to replace it regardless and that gets me on to my plans for the engine...   Now plans wise I want to give the engine what I would consider a pretty standard rebuild. I'm not going to be attacking the bores with a bore gauge or the crank journals with a micrometer and subsequently re-boring or grinding them if they don't need it. I will however be checking the head's aren't warped, checking the bearing tolerances (with plastigage albeit, i'm not made of money for the big boy tools!) and re-honing the bores of the block. From my initial inspection everything is worn very well and there are no alarming amounts of scoring that would indicate anything to worry about, everything generally looks in tip top shape just oily.. stained, etc!   So with that said here's the list of things i'm planning to do to it: - New Rod bearings (will check clearances with plastigage, don't really have funds for big boy tools)
- New Piston Rings (Will gap accordingly)
- Hone Piston Bores
- Connecting rod ARP Bolts
- Leaving Crank & Main caps in place, not removing (this might change, i've had a change of heart and will research further)
- New Lifters & Lifter Trays
- New Gaskets and Seals throughout ( Everything from head gaskets, sump, valley cover, front & rear cover, etc)
- Cam Swap + 3 bolt 58 tooth x4 Cam gear
- New Cam Retainer Plate
- LS2 timing chain guide + new chain
- New timing cover /w front main seal + cam sensor
- New Rear cover /w rear main seal
- Rear Oil barbell
- Hardened Pushrods
- Rocker Arm Trunnion bearing upgrade
- New Valve Springs
- Clean, reuse & re-lap old valves to head
- New GM Performance Oil pump + Pickup brace
- New LS3 Intake Manifold /w Attachments
- ATI superdamper (no pulley on engine when purchased)
- New front accessories (none with engine currently)
 
I've posted this to a couple of LS Swap groups and had some pretty good responses and no one jumping at the chance to flame me for being a fool (atleast not in regards to the LS!) so i'm pretty confident that this is a fairly sensible direction to head in. Of course without going the full lenghts of re-boring, crank grinding, measuring with proper tools etc the engine is never going to become some kind of monster race engine but I simply don't have the money, time, etc to do those things nor to be able to pay someone to build the engine for me. These engines are fairly robust ofcourse and as long as don't do anything silly like fit the wrong bearings or try and fit round pistons in oval bores I feel i should be fairly safe.
 
And with that all said it gets me on to my next couple of things... firstly I will ofcourse be utterly soaking this engine top to bottom in degreaser and going over as best I can to clean out any water, oil passages etc. Heck i even bought a little Bench mounted parts washer which is exciting and 25L of degreaser concentrate, so that'll probably last me a lifetime! and further to all that i've already ordered a couple of part that have arrived!
 
What you'll see below is a Texas Speed LS3 Stage 3 NA cam (look it up for the specs or check out my video!) which i'd be pretty conservative in saying should give an additional 50hp to the engine along with their .660 lift dual valve spring kit, hardened push rods, CHE Trunnion bearing replacement (a weak point of LS engines) and the new oem GM high performance oil pump!
 
 
 
and the following video to tie it all together!
 
 

Atleast all the bolts on it use Metric! otherwise i'd have dropkicked the thing in to the ocean!

Cool vid, i actually learned stuff!
 
When it comes to alignment and what not I'm always on the side of 'better let a professional do this' because I've never quite understood it and had the space or equipment to do it...also I cant afford to be killing tyres every few 1000 miles 😮. I'm surprised you could stand driving that distance though with alignment this messed up, when I got my 86 it was all out by around 1-1.2 degrees and it was like driving a 4wd with a bust diff, car kept sort of skating side to side at anything over 40mph. 
Glad you got it sorted now, hope that's all your steering issues ironed out!👍

So another silly tale in the saga of the 86 - It failed it's MOT last week!   Nothing seriously.. only the fact it burnt through it's front set of tyres in 3000 miles.. How? you ask? Well simple.. the alignment was screwed.   It's all my own fault ofcourse! I put such an emphasis in to the rear alignment after a load of toe totally scrubbed my rear tyres clean last year that I went about carrying out a string alignment on them which went pretty well but I totally neglected the front end after doing the recent steering arm and bushing replacements, that along with the fact i've never truly done an alignment on this cae meant it was totally out of wack!   So after having the tyres replaced and the alignment sorted the car drives a thousand times better, it's night and day with pretty much any and all bumpsteer/tramlining totally gone it feels so much nicer to drive and more importantly safer.   Here's a look at my before/after alignment settings, but you've been warned the front is a train wreck! (This isn't the print out i received from the alignment shop, i just simplified it for my video and the original bit of paper has a coffee stain on it now thanks to me!)  
      I go in to much more depth in to this in my latest youtube video where I talk about the effects of Caster, Camber and Toe on a RWD car - I do know these things, I'm just stubborn and tight when it comes to paying people to work on my car. Don't be like me, get your alignment sorted!    

I've just joined the forum to say, thank you so much for sharing your incredible project! 
I looked at the first pictures when you bought it, and couldn't believe anyone would buy a car in that state! What you have done is amazing, what talent, and I love the final outcome 😊👍