Advice on Possible Head Replacement

[Seti]

Ok so some of you read my thread about the Ty smoking when I let out of the throttle a while back. Turns out it was not an oil leaking into the turbo issue like I'd hoped but rather valve and valve seating problems. The Ty has 170K on it so I'm wondering if it which route to take financially speaking.

1. Get the valve job done on a motor that has 170k on it.
2. Scrap the heads completely and replace them with Vortec's or the like.
3. Wait until I'm ready to replace the motor.

Not too big on # 3 because I'm pretty sure it won't pass emissions as is and I want the shit over and done with so I can move along to other expensive crap like turbo and intercooler upgrades etc.

Talk to me fella's, what would you do?

S.

 

[CKEITH]

Re: Advice on Possible Head Replacement

if you don't have the funds to do a complete rebuild right now i would fix my current problem and save up for the complete overhaul.

i can't see spending the money to do the vortec conversion...and have the bottom end let go and have to spend more money then. :2cents:

 

[Seti]

Re: Advice on Possible Head Replacement

if you don't have the funds to do a complete rebuild right now i would fix my current problem and save up for the complete overhaul.

i can't see spending the money to do the vortec conversion...and have the bottom end let go and have to spend more money then. :2cents:

Thanks bro, this is exactly what I'm looking for.

BTW, do you have any idea about how long these motors will last before a rebuild is needed? I know some GM products can be pretty long lived but I don't know about the 4.3 Tubos. My old 2.8 V6 had 274K on the meter when it stopped registering miles and I drove it for another 3 years before it gave up the ghost. LOL!

S.

 

[gjp]

Re: Advice on Possible Head Replacement

A compression test should give you a good idea on how worn the engine is. I am doing a l35 head swap. Not as good as a vortec swap but the cost is a lot less. It meets what I plan on doing to the truck. a head swap should take a few day and the engine can stay in the truck.

 

[dgoodhue]

Re: Advice on Possible Head Replacement

BTW, do you have any idea about how long these motors will last before a rebuild is needed? I know some GM products can be pretty long lived but I don't know about the 4.3 Tubos.

170K miles is getting up their for Turbo 4.3's. Many don't even last that long. IMO You would be doing very well it lasted 200K but I would expect it either.

 

[DynaGlide]

Re: Advice on Possible Head Replacement

$80 for an electric die grinder and some carbides and you can make your LB4s into something less sucky.

After buying the tools, porting is free.

 

[Double12]

Re: Advice on Possible Head Replacement

For a temporary fix, I would replace the valve stem seals with the positive type teflon ones. Not a perfect fix, but if your actual guides are worn it should smoke a lot less than with stock type seals. The up side is that it only takes a few hours per head. This worked for mine fairly well, but I didnt have seating problems, just worn guides.