rebuilt engine suggestions...
 

I am considering replacing the engine in my 1997 Chevy half-ton with a rebuilt one.

And suggestions/comments/advice on where to buy a good rebuilt engine and who to stay away from?

And no wrecking yard engines. At my age I only want to do this once. Plus winter is coming on and I will need to do this in a barn so it needs to be a standard swap.

Although I might install some headers while I am in there.

Is it an early gen small block or an LS?

Either way, is there a reputable, old fashion automotive machine shop in your area? If so, remove the engine and strip it to a long block and take it there for a rebuild. They will disassemble, mic everything and rebuild as needed. It would be less expensive than a crate motor and be the same amount of work on your part.

Such shops are not as common these days because modern motors often outlast the chassis and are not commonly rebuilt.

Hope this helps.

Just curious, why the rebuild? Having problems or just want to do a rebuild? Asking because often rebuilds are not necessary unless you just want to do it.

Good luck!!!

Jegs has some nice motors, you can even upgrade horsepower

Jasper engines have a good rep I believe. Made in Jasper Indiana a stronghold of companies that build things and a traditional German culture locally.

hey t read a bunch of negs,about jasper.Use alot of china made stuff.

Its pretty hard to find parts not made in china in many cases. No personal experience with Jasper.

well my son works for mahle,they make cams,cranks,rods and pistons at his morristown plant.still making for mercedes and some others.

Fords camshafts are a problem,they freeze the bar stock,and press lobes on.the lobes work lose wiping out pistons.mahle, is doing the same except,they robot weld lobes so as not to spin.

Rebuilt exchange may or may not be worth looking into. As for Chinese parts not all are bad. In fact if you go out and buy a new truck like yours it will have lots of them involved in the build.


Or I would look for a rebuilder that has the best modern machine equipment and is large enough to get a decent price on parts they use. Hopefully passing some of the cost savings on to you.

I will second what air&road said, find a good machine shop. I have found a couple in my town that redo engines, and they do very good work. I usually strip the stuff to small pieces and drop off the engine in pieces and I get good workmanship back.

Depending on my mood and equipment I assemble it myself or have them do it. Two engines I had them redo were "quality replacements" from high name crate engine suppliers.

One machine shop I frequent has a mechanics shop attached to it so its a one window solution for most people.

I'll second Tom W.'s choice of Jasper. I used them when I was doing maintenance for a fleet of delivery trucks and never had a problem. Probably installed ten or twelve engines and four or five transmissions with zero failures. Did have one with a cracked oil pan but that could have occurred during shipping or my installation. They fast-shipped me a replacement pan, no hassle.

Especially if he wants to minimize downtime.

My truck is in great shape but it has over 250,000 miles on it. Except for some interior wear and tear, and there is not much of that, there is no problem with it.

But I like to get ahead of things, and I take some long trips in that thing. I once thought 500 miles was a long trip. Now I live in the mid-west and 800 miles is a long trip.

And I would hate to get that far out and spin a bearing.

So while it would not be cheap an engine replacement would be cheaper than a new truck.

I would like to thank everyone for their input. This was very kind of you.

I would love to find a local guy who could do this but sadly this seems to be a lost art. A friend of mine in a small Texas town had a Chevy six rebuilt about 20 years ago by a local guy. The labor cost was $150. The mechanic has since died but the engine is going strong.

One thing about the Jasper engine that is appealing is they have a network of installers. This will save me the time of checking out every shop in town.