So yesterday i picked up an awesome deal.
2001 LS1 out of a SS Camaro.
I got the heads, cam and short block. Has 68,000 miles. 241 heads CNC'd with dual valve springs, titanium retainers, and a blower cam. Bottom end is stock. Picked up for $400. Guy put in a blown LS3 and the owner had no place or want to keep the LS1.

My thought is to pull it completely apart, put in new bearings, rings, seals, ARP rod bolts, turn the crank, check the rods and pistons, clean and mill the heads then add my thumpr cam and bolt ons. Hoping for a 50 HP increase over my worn 5.3.

I have $1,600 left to spend to make this happen. The money has to cover all machine work as well. I am debating on replacing the pistons with some aftermarket hypereutetics like speed pros with the skirt coating. I have done some searches and haven't found much info from people who have used them. Can I use the stock rods with aftermarket pistons? Anyone have any advise before I start ordering parts? I am stripping it all down and bringing the block and heads to the machine shop on Thursday.

 

It sounds like you are over doing it a good bit. Don't worry about tearing it apart. Sell the worked 241s and buy some worked 243/799s. Then swap the cam for something custom to your build.

 

I am gonna stick with the 241's as I am not looking for an all out race truck and i don't have the time to deal with selling and searching for 243's. I will be swapping over the Thumpr cam and all other bolt ons from my 5.3 that is in my truck now.

 

to be honest at 68k its probably cherry i would if anything just get it refreshed..ijust did my ls1 for my truck as well...bearings, rings, block honed etc i spent about 900 bucks including labor for someone to do it for me....

iw ould do that, if youre not spraying it, boosting it, or dont want a all out race truck i see no need to put arp rod bolts and so forth and so on..243 would be alot better than those 241s so with the remaining money get your self a pair for about 300, mill them and slap them on. and youre good to go.

 

I'm gonna give these ported 241's a shot and see how I like them. I was easily hitting 6,800 RPM on my 5.3 with the Thumpr cam so I thought the ARP rod bolts would be a good little insurance.

 

At 68k it's not even broken in yet. Much better off leaving it factory. Swap the cam and drive it.

 

At 68k, that thing is still new. I wouldn't even remove the bolts on the oil pan. They come from the factory with hypereutctic pistons. The shirt is not that big of a deal. I pulled apart an engine with 200k on it and the non coated skirts looked like brand new. If you have the heads on it, I would do a compression check to make sure the compression is good. Do your cam, trunion upgrade, and work the heads a little if you would like. If you have money burning a hole in your pocket, do a budget power adder for it.

 

Trust me I have thought about that but am hesitant as this truck is my daily driver. I don't want to have to pull out the engine again. I am nervous because this engine had a supercharger on it so it was pushed hard even for only 68,000 miles. I would be pissed if I slapped it together to find it had a tick from a bad wrist pin or bearing.

 

my 5.3 has 114,00 miles on it. Its been supercharged for over 100,000 miles....12 psi ...it runs like a champ. and its been daily driven for 10 years

 

Not chance would I use those pistons you stated over stock

These aren't some junk small block chevys