Money Question...

[gaugeprower]

I'm apologising ahead of time for the length of this post, I just need some serious advice to save my truck.

So for a while now I've been talking about my truck's motor problems.

It has low compression in a cylinder. I was told 95lbs of compression, the rest were 150lbs. I've been told the cause of this is most likely piston rings and/or valves. The truck runs.. the truck drives... the truck can succesfully drive around town and if pushed hard could probably reach highway speeds. The truck has absolutely no power almost at all at lower rpms, at the higher rpms the truck gains a small amount of power, but overall has even less power than your average 4 cylinder vehicle. The truck is my DD. I parked it and drove my parents cars for a while but now thats no longer possible due to scedule changes at work. I'm now debating to either get myself a "solid mechanically working" s-series truck to beat around all winter, or to re-build the typhoon's motor. However, I don't know what the better investment would be. Or how much it would cost.

How much is the price i would most likely be spending to fix this cylinder problem, if the problem, in fact, is the rings and/or valves? The truck has blowby, it smokes on startup, you can hear the idle as if there was a wire unplugged, it "sips" oil (has no leak) and has just enough power to get around on the town streets with terrible gas mileage.

I have to figure out what to do soon, because my job situation is also looking bad, and that's putting me on a seriously low budget, and in a serious time crunch. I need to get the truck fixed in order to get to a better job... The last thing I want to happen is to watch my precious truck that I dumped thousands of dollars into be re-possesed...

So, after this long ass post, I'm asking the sy/ty community for advice... how do I save my truck? Buy a beater s-series to get to a better job to take care of the ty little by little? (which may also put me in a bigger hole, bc now there's another truck to most likely repair) or should I have the typhoon motor rebuilt and use that instead? (im worried about the cost)

this is a tough call for me... it sucks to look at that beautiful truck out there and know it doesnt run and know that its all you have...and that its the only reason you have bills in the first place lol... I don't want to sell the truck bc ive already sunk thousands into it to replace almost the entire drivetrain, so it would be a complete loss...

**end rant** :squint:

 

[bezerk]

Re: Money Question...

get a modifed lower intake for vortec heads. sneak up a 98 4.3l v6 (low milage) from the junkyard for $400. and you have a freshly, better performing engine for around 700.-

 

[gaugeprower]

Re: Money Question...

That idea has crossed my mind, however, I dont know myself how to swap the motors, and anyone I know of would most likely charge me 1000-1500 to swap the motors.. so I figured maybe it might be easier to just have the motor rebuilt so it doesnt have to leave the truck..? or maybe it would still be just as expensive?

 

[bezerk]

Re: Money Question...

That idea has crossed my mind, however, I dont know myself how to swap the motors, and anyone I know of would most likely charge me 1000-1500 to swap the motors.. so I figured maybe it might be easier to just have the motor rebuilt so it doesnt have to leave the truck..? or maybe it would still be just as expensive?

engine has to be removed from the truck most likely.
i would step up buy some jackstands and do it yourselve

 

[bezerk]

Re: Money Question...

with a bit of hellp from friends you can do it in a few hours, and it's alot of fun!

 

[MikeRenz]

Re: Money Question...

That idea has crossed my mind, however, I dont know myself how to swap the motors, and anyone I know of would most likely charge me 1000-1500 to swap the motors..

the better option, imo, is to buy a beater.

especially if you can't do the work yourself, the better option is to buy the beater.

Then just save $ to do the rebuild

 

[UR50SLO]

Re: Money Question...

If you get a beater this Ty will sit forever. I've seen it and done it.

The newer Vortec engine is a great solution.

It's a tough situation to be in.. job... money... engine on the way out or at the very least top end repair.

Where are you from?
~Scott

 

[gaugeprower]

Re: Money Question...

yea I mean i have a few freinds that are mechanically inclined, I just keeep hearing about how weird these engines are so I'm weird about having them do the work on it as if it were a run of the mill 4.3

The motor has to come out, so I guess I'll either have to find someone who know how to do it all (machine shop) or i guess I'll just have to park it and scrounge up a beater s-series. Im looking to spend less than 1000 on a beater...(so that means most likeley a 1st gen) and if I could have an ideal truck it would be a bravada (bc of awd)

This is really a tough call...

Im located in buddd lake, NJ (near a few sy/ty owners) howver everyone's kinda busy to be lending a helping hand. I mean i'd pay for someone's plane ticket if they'd want to donate the time to get the compression issue fixed lol. Rings are what? 500 dollars?

 

[gkrcr882]

Re: Money Question...

As bad as this sounds, if you want a beater you don't have to sink money into, get an old early 90's Toyota or Honda. They're cheap, rusted, and broken in pretty well, but they run forever somehow. I've got my 1990 S15 4x4 on life support right now, just got some trans lines fixed and now I have a check engine and a weird vibration. Not too bad for 220,000 miles though. Other alternative is get a 73-87 f/s Chevy or GMC, they're stupid easy to work on and cheap to fix (fuel pump for my '81 is $25).

 

[dgoodhue]

Re: Money Question...

This is just my opinion. I am guessing your going to need to tune the motor with code $59 if you do the newer motor. Higher Compression and much more air flow with the heads/cam. Maybe you could get by with one of the Heads/Cam 50# Ultimate Programs.

I have the Vortec Conversion (03 motor), but I also bigger Injectors, ported heads, after market cam as well as 60# Injectors, so I need to use code $59.

I probably should do a final summary of my build at some time for the parts needs, but I would probably plan on $500 of parts on top of the motor at minimum, you start spending a bunch while your in their as well.

 

[dgoodhue]

Re: Money Question...

So for a while now I've been talking about my truck's motor problems.

It has low compression in a cylinder. I was told 95lbs of compression, the rest were 150lbs. I've been told the cause of this is most likely piston rings and/or valves. The truck runs.. the truck drives... the truck can succesfully drive around town and if pushed hard could probably reach highway speeds. The truck has absolutely no power almost at all at lower rpms, at the higher rpms the truck gains a small amount of power, but overall has even less power than your average 4 cylinder vehicle. The truck is my DD.

I would think even with the low compression you should have more power than 4 cylinder. Jeremy Duncan has a bad cylinder in his Sy was still running mid 12's with it. I Maybe you could invest some time trying to get you Ty running better, even with a dead cylinder.

 

[gaugeprower]

Re: Money Question...

Thanks for all thi info guys, Its nice to not get badgered when a serious question is asked. I'm gunna see how much I can get some rings for. Or if I can get a beater s-series for the winter. I just hope I can find someone who would wanna help me do the work. I dont know the first thing about taking thee motor apart... Thats uncharted territory for me...I'd love to learn though haha

 

[gaugeprower]

Re: Money Question...

I would think even with the low compression you should have more power than 4 cylinder. Jeremy Duncan has a bad cylinder in his Sy was still running mid 12's with it. I Maybe you could invest some time trying to get you Ty running better, even with a dead cylinder.

I thought the same thing actually... I mean just a dead cylinder shouldnt have affected the truck this bad, but this is how it runs, and to my knowledge, thats what the compression test said... so idk... i think its running a pitbulll chip or a custom chip made by the shop that it was last rebuilt at in manville, nj (ive heard horror stories about that place and now its in L.I.) I was not in charge of that rebuild...

 

[turbodig]

Re: Money Question...

Contrary to what's often reported here, you can have a short block built back to stock specs for <$1000.

If you run the stock chip in an otherwise stock vehicle, keep an eye on it, it'll run a long time.


Honestly though, if you're having trouble scraping up cash to get it rebuilt now, you're likely gonna have lots of trouble keeping it together long term. These are not good "tight on cash" vehicles.

Find yourself a beater to drive.

 

[95xtreme]

Re: Money Question...

Contrary to what's often reported here, you can have a short block built back to stock specs for <$1000.

If you run the stock chip in an otherwise stock vehicle, keep an eye on it, it'll run a long time.


Honestly though, if you're having trouble scraping up cash to get it rebuilt now, you're likely gonna have lots of trouble keeping it together long term. These are not good "tight on cash" vehicles.

Find yourself a beater to drive.

Also depends my stock rebuilt motor with them assembling was right around 850. Keep it stock, it will stay running and be reliable. Another option for the ty would be an l35 balance shaft motor. turn back the boost alittle and call it a day.

A daily is always nice to have though and then you do not have to worry about the element attacking your ty.

 

[SloGN]

Re: Money Question...

OK

i have rebuilt a 160k ty engine that had a failure due to a oil filter adapter o-ring blow out and it lost all the oil and killed the bearings.


I took the engine out and of course the crank had to be turned to .020 on both the rods/mains.

I measured the cylinder bores and the pistons. The cylinder bores came out to be .001 over the max bore size according to GM specs. This was after i had ran a bead hone to deglaze the cylinders.

All the pistons were in great shape due to it being female driven without a lead foot lol

The heads needed a valve job really bad and new seals.

Cam/lifters were in great shape hardly any wear on them. Go mobil 1

Replaced the oil pump.

Pretty much all i did to that engine was all new bearings/ rings and head work and have the crank reground and gaskets of course and it all good.

now of course my reason for doing the rebuild this way was the truck is lady driven and not run to hell and it's not a top-noth race build. she just wanted to have a reliable engine and so far it's been almost 2 yrs and so far it's still going strong without any oil consumption.


note i did all the work my self including pulling the engine and reinstalling it myself.



The total on all that was around 700 bucks

 

[gkrcr882]

Re: Money Question...

A daily is always nice to have though and then you do not have to worry about the element attacking your ty.

And the rest of the world for that matter.

 

[gaugeprower]

Re: Money Question...

OK

i have rebuilt a 160k ty engine that had a failure due to a oil filter adapter o-ring blow out and it lost all the oil and killed the bearings.


I took the engine out and of course the crank had to be turned to .020 on both the rods/mains.

I measured the cylinder bores and the pistons. The cylinder bores came out to be .001 over the max bore size according to GM specs. This was after i had ran a bead hone to deglaze the cylinders.

All the pistons were in great shape due to it being female driven without a lead foot lol

The heads needed a valve job really bad and new seals.

Cam/lifters were in great shape hardly any wear on them. Go mobil 1

Replaced the oil pump.

Pretty much all i did to that engine was all new bearings/ rings and head work and have the crank reground and gaskets of course and it all good.

now of course my reason for doing the rebuild this way was the truck is lady driven and not run to hell and it's not a top-noth race build. she just wanted to have a reliable engine and so far it's been almost 2 yrs and so far it's still going strong without any oil consumption.


note i did all the work my self including pulling the engine and reinstalling it myself.



The total on all that was around 700 bucks

That's most likely what might need to be done to my truck if not less than that. Oil pump is good, but the truck has been running with low oil pressure... (its full but the OP needle is at the 1/2 way mark at idle after the truck warms, so its pointing directly left....) I don't know if that may have ruined anything... I dont know how to do the work... is there an idiots guide to doing this? It sucks that I have to rebuild, especially since I always kept good mobil1 10w-30 in the motor, never beat on it, never track raced it, just drove it.... meanwhile there are those leadfoots out there and their trucks run fine lol. I have to say, its really hard to not beat on these trucks, so much power there... and I feel really good about the fact that I dont romp on it, however the motor's making me look bad haha.

I do know that the previous owner(s) track raced the truck, I know it was beat to hell. So I'm hoping that after the rebuild, it'l run fine for years to come.

I'd love to do the work, or at least assist someone with it, I mean I have a huge snap-on toolbox full of everything anyone would ever need, an 8 car driveway, and a damn good set of jackstands and a big ass jack... (and a fridge full of cold ones) I just don't even know where to get started.. :squint:

 

[gkrcr882]

Re: Money Question...

As long as the oil pressure gauge is reading above the red warning zone at the bottom, you're fine. It's normal to have it towards the top on cold start and for a little while then for it to drop. These trucks are known to have heat related oil pressure loss and it shouldn't be a concern unless it gets critically low. IIRC, minimum spec is 6psi @ 1K RPM. Hardest part IMO about getting an engine out of an S-truck is getting the transmission unbolted. Once that's out of the way the rest isn't bad. Just remember to label all the connectors (plug A goes to sensor A, etc) and take some good digital pictures if needed (since Polaroids are extinct). Go slow and you'll be fine.

A bit of advice- if at all possible, do not disconnect any of the A/C components if the system isnt discharged. It could cause serious injury and it's not exactly environmentally friendly.

 

[gaugeprower]

Re: Money Question...

sounds likee its do-able.. is there a step by step guide anywhere out there for this? also, the a/c hoses are all leaky so theres nothing in there.. so at least thats good..i guess