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This is a deck bridge. You zero on flat surface like after a block has been machined. In this case the piston comes above the deck by the amount shown on the indicator.
yes, there is already a smaller hole for the gen4 knock sensors.
Ok, yes. Thank you. I confirmed this this past weekend. The Gen III knock sensors I have do not thread on the smaller threaded holes. Can I ream those threaded holes and re-thread them? I've got a SAE/Metric drill and tap set available if it has the same thread/pitch. I'll try to figure out what those knock sensors are.
Ok, yes. Thank you. I confirmed this this past weekend. The Gen III knock sensors I have do not thread on the smaller threaded holes. Can I ream those threaded holes and re-thread them? I've got a SAE/Metric drill and tap set available if it has the same thread/pitch. I'll try to figure out what those knock sensors are.
Yes you have to drill them for the larger thread of those knock sensors. They are a metric thread.
The knock sensor is left and right of the block. So 1 on each side. That particular one is a gen4 aluminum 5.3L block.
Those will work just fine. Speed Pro and Silv-O-Lite are going to be the 2 predominate choices for replacement pistons. What ever you can get as there are shortages still.
You will need to have the decks machined on the block.
The replacement pistons will have a lower height.
1. To maintain the OEM compression ratio, how ever this will effect your Quench because the piston will be down in the hole in this application.
2. They also assume that the deck may need to be cleaned up during a rebuild if they are warped.
So, I did contact the seller and he said the block was standard deck (not decked.) So is decking absolutely necessary? I was hoping avoiding doing any machining.
I was going to order some pistons, but seems like the 2 unknowns right now are desired compression ratio and piston height. How do I go about that? I don't really have a use for the engine at the moment, but I would like to keep it as stock as possible and most of my trucks are 2500/3500, so I would like to have the option of dropping this is any one of them. Looks like compression ratio of LQ4 is 9.4:1 while L96 is 9.6:1 (I was wrong about it being a LY6, but these are essentially the same, right?) Question: do I need pistons with those little valve reliefs? I think aluminum hypereutectic is what I want. I did confirm the original engine has Gen IV rods with that little nipple, so I'm reusing those.
Side note: my 10 year old son is getting interested in cars and trucks. He's asking all sorts of questions, some of which I don't know! I'm obviously not a gearhead, just learning...I told him he could help me build the engine and hopefully he can learn something.
Last edited by strutaeng; 09-30-2022 at 12:01 PM.
Reason: typo
So, I did contact the seller and he said the block was standard deck (not decked.) So is decking absolutely necessary? I was hoping avoiding doing any machining.
I was going to order some pistons, but seems like the 2 unknowns right now are desired compression ratio and piston height. How do I go about that? I don't really have a use for the engine at the moment, but I would like to keep it as stock as possible and most of my trucks are 2500/3500, so I would like to have the option of dropping this is any one of them. Looks like compression ratio of LQ4 is 9.4:1 while L96 is 9.6:1 (I was wrong about it being a LY6, but these are essentially the same, right?) Question: do I need cylinders with those little valve reliefs? I think aluminum hypereutectic is what I want. I did confirm the original engine has Gen IV rods with that little nipple, so I'm reusing those.
Side note: my 10 year old son is getting interested in cars and trucks. He's asking all sorts of questions, some of which I don't know! I'm obviously not a gearhead, just learning...I told him he could help me build the engine and hopefully he can learn something.
Sorry i missed this.
you do not need the valve reliefs if you want more compression, use an LQ9 style piston say 2006 this will get you more like 10.2:1 compression.
The reason for the difference in compression ratio is because the LQ4 had an 8cc dish, the LY6 was a flat top and the valve reliefs that took up less space like 4cc
Ok, I finally went to Summit Racing and bought the pistons and rings. Also bought the deck bridge gizmo.
The only thing I had done in the Fall was reamed and retapped for the knock sensors. And I bought main and rod bearings.
I bought a 5.3 crank also last Fall and got it polished at a local guy. Guy had looked at my original crank and said it was not good. 🤕 Will I need a balance job?
What's the procedure to wash the block? Saw a video a guy was using Dawn and hot water with a bunch of brushes and garden hose, then dried everything and sprayed WD-40, but was a SBC. Should I take out any of the plugs? What about galley plugs? Had to borrow the stand to wrap up my brother's transmission assembly. 😬
What i do is disassemble the block. Remove everything you can.
I use a large tote and fill it with hot water mixed with dawn dish soap.
These brushes are very handy. https://www.summitracing.com/parts/mor-61820
Used them on every engine. Be surprised at how much junk comes out of all the oil galleys even after machine shop hot tanks them. The small ones work good on getting the oil passages on the crank shaft clean.
When your done playing in the soap bubbles, pressure wash or just use a water hose and clean out every oil galley and passage.
Dry with compressed air, and oil down with anything handy. I use transmission fluid or engine oil.
Cheap 15w40 works good to coat the pistons, rings, and cylinder walls.
Lucas oil stabilizer works great for Assembly lube, And it will stay in place for months if the engine needs to sit up for awhile.
When in doubt get it balanced. Ive seen guys get random parts out of 5 or 6 engines and piece them together but they dont last long before eating bearings and some have strange vibrations at certain rpms.
Only time i dont get one balanced is when the rotating assembly is out of a factory engine.
I found a place locally called City Motor Supply. I called them and they said $300 to balance the crankshaft, just take the pistons, rods and rings.
Question on gapping the rings: what tool should I buy for this? Do the little manual operated filer work okay?
I started doing a preliminary cleaning to install main bearings to check for clearance last night. I saw the crank has this little needle bearing on the back. I don't recall seeing that on the old crank.
It looks crusty. What is that? Maybe it was from an engine that had a manual transmission? 🤷
Edit: I'll check the part crank number tonight. I thought the 5.3 never came with a manual? (only the 4.8 and 6.0?). I hope I don't have the wrong crank. 😬
09-19-2022, 09:05 AM
