Okay everyone, sorry to make another thread and clutter things but I know you all are much smarter than myself in this area so I really could use your help. First before I go on I have searched not only the forum for this topic but many forums and much of the internet and I really haven't found what I am looking for.

Alright so let me explain, I am going to be rebuilding my truck over the coming months and one of the things I want to hit is the engine. It has 200k on it now and it really shows. Piston slap in winter could be mistaken for a dang diesel. I want to keep the 4.8 without question. I have a few reasons...this is the engine that came with the truck, and I want to see what kinda MPG I can get out of a small 4.8 with some of the plans I have. With that much said I want to rebuild the engine, hone the engine and just make it better than what it was without going nuts. Maybe try a custom port job on the heads to see what I can do. Thats a maybe though ha

I need help in a few areas though because quite frankly this will be my first dive into a v8 car engine. I have rebuilt tons of small engines, ripped apart a tacoma 4 cylinder to see how it works but not a project quite like this.

I am looking for the following things

*Books/Websites with basic terminology so I get the fundamental things all down before I move on.
*Books over this particular engine so I can get familiar with it before I open it and learn how it works and how to make it perform the way I have in my head.
*Books/Websites explaining what the physics of everything. This is what I am most interested in.
*All the parts you guys would think would fail or be bad or going bad at this point in the engines life.
*Also I can't find almost anything on websites with parts for the engine. Is there a secret site I don't know about??
*Any other information you think I might need to know taking on a task like this.

One of my main goals are just a tad bit more torque at 1300-1500 RPM to help drive the thing down the road. It really needs it.


I just wanna make sure this is done the right way the first time and I achieve the results I have in mind for the engine. Any and all input is much appreciated.

Michael

 

Is there anyone that can point me in the right direction?

 

This book is really good as far as assembly of an LS engine go, Amazon.com: How to Build and Modify GM LS-Series Engines (Motorbooks Workshop) (9780760335437): Joseph Potak: Books
The author is actually a guy on tech.

As far as learning about the physics, the website, "how stuff works" is really awesome. You could spend days in their automotive section.

 

You have the want to learn, so thats covered..

find a friend that is into racing or something and maybe they can help you learn along the way
a Mentor is priceless when it comes to things like this

 

That would be amazing to have someone for something like this, unfortunately I have anyone to ask for help at all. That's kinda why I asked here.

I am going to go ahead and buy that book, and look into what atomic said to do on the how stuff works site, i been there a few times but never looked into the automotive part.

 

Google atk remanufactured engines reviews, see the number of BBB complaints. Wish I had before buying one of the engines. At $50 an hour and wholesale price of parts do not count they will help you. They only help themselves, I wonder how many people just eat the mistakes and take the loss.

I will never buy a rebuilt engine ever again, from any supplier. The gold warranty is not gold.