What do yall think of this engine?Do yall like them?Im just curious on what yalls opinions are.

 

They have badass factory heads! I was reading in my Car Craft a few months back and they ported a set of those heads and picked up about 40hp! All they did was open up the throats of the valves, cleaned up the bowls, and gasket ported the intake and exhaust from what I remember. They utilized the stock valve sizing (1.94/1.5 I think) too. The motor is a workhorse and responds well to mods like all the others too.

That is the same motor that was in my old '96 2 door 'Hoe...now why doesn't GM make a new 2 door 'Hoe is beyond me...

 

I have a 93 350 with at/about 150K milles on it.

 

I have the L31/5.7 Vortec in my 99 Tahoe.

Motor has a nice powerband and it's been reliable. The cold-weather piston slap is loud. I have 121,000 on the Tahoe.

 

I was not aware it was an issue for the 5.7 aswell.

File

 

My 90 GMC show truck had 226,000 miles on it and the only things ever changed was the oil and the PCV valve was changed at 200,000. Those old 350s IMO are the most reliable engines ever, and react well to mods. Never even changed the tranny fluid.

 

I have talked to 60K L31 owners and everyone has the piston slap.

 

Back when they came out in 96 they were huge leap over the TBI motors,the new vortecs ran strong for there day. Now days the Ls1 style motors are king and respond well to mods.Guys with vortecs throw piles of money at them with bolt-ons and supercharges to run in the low to mid 14s,guys with 5.3 a few bolt-on and a SC are running low 13s and about 8mph faster too.I think your limited with the vortecs,unless you have a gigantic budget but then with a budget like that why not go with a 427LS1 in a new truck?

 

L31 was rated at 280hp/330rwtq stock in my truck.

I'd rather have the newer 5.3 but the L31 is a good performer I view it as being the last good SBC-based 5.7 other than the 4th gen LT1.

 

Agreed, it is a really good motor. I think the L31 w/ straight pipes sounds WICKED... way better than a 5.3.
John, what is the piston slap your talking about? Do you hear it in the exaust or under the hood?