1991 Lumina Z34

[Skeptical]

Slamming the rotating assembly back together. Nice new cam bearings in there too.






If you look real close, you can see an LS9 cam in the picture.

[DanStokes]

Remember to prelube that sucker before you hit the key. I made a rig out of a pressure cooker that worked well but I've seen them made from big PCV plumbing drain pipe. Bottom line, LSs will fail if not prelubed as proven to me by the engine I put in my Grandson's Trailblazer SS. Three times.

Dan

[SuperBuickGuy]

Remember to prelube that sucker before you hit the key. I made a rig out of a pressure cooker that worked well but I've seen them made from big PCV plumbing drain pipe. Bottom line, LSs will fail if not prelubed as proven to me by the engine I put in my Grandson's Trailblazer SS. Three times.

Dan

I know I didn't because I planned on pre-lubing by pressure; however, does the Buick pre-lube trick work on LS? (vaseline baby).

[DanStokes]

I don't think so as the pump is buried in there where it would be hard to do. But maybe (says I, mulling it over......). But the pressure luber is easy enough to make and there is a port you can access fairly easily. I wonder if the Vaseline would get in the way of forcing oil thru the pump and passages? (More mulling......)

Dan

[Skeptical]

Remember to prelube that sucker before you hit the key. I made a rig out of a pressure cooker that worked well but I've seen them made from big PCV plumbing drain pipe. Bottom line, LSs will fail if not prelubed as proven to me by the engine I put in my Grandson's Trailblazer SS. Three times.

Dan

That's good info. I usually just crank em without the spark plugs in them and they pick up oil pressure within a few seconds. That got me poking around the internet looking how different people prelube em. There are some neat setups people are building out there. Not sure how I will handle this one yet.

I like this Melling video. Pretty straight forward way to prime an LS.

SuperBuickGuy, I bet the Vaseline trick would work just fine to get it to prime. The pump on this 5.3 has bunch of lucas assembly lube oozing out of it. Last time I did one of these it sat for a year before I spun it over without the plugs in it. Primed in seconds. Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure that is one of the methods that GM used to recommend with their crate engines and replacement engines (That didn't have an easy way to prime it). I vaguely remember seeing it right on the tags that came with the engines back when I worked at Pontiac.

[Skeptical]

And with this set of pics, we are all caught up to where I'm at with the car/engine/project/thing/stuff/etc.


This is after starting to hit the valve with the wire wheel. She definitely had an oil burnin' problem.




Looks like something from sex ed class that I was warned about.



Not as bad as i was expecting once the exhaust valves were cleaned up. They will probably clean up with a grind but I may just replace them.




Tips weren't looking too healthy. I'll have to find the specs to see how much can be taken off.






I'm 50/50 on these valve. If I can find a cheap set of factory take outs I'll go that route.

If anyone has some, this is what I need -
2.00" Intake
1.575" Exhaust

[SuperBuickGuy]

I bought some LS heads from a guy who rebuilt some stock 317s, then went aftermarket.... I'm in the fully refreshed heads less then the cost of the valves.... maybe someone nearby is doing something similar?

[Skeptical]

I'll do some diggin around. Replacements aren't expensive by any means. I just prefer the stockers. I might drive up to Jax and steal the valve and seat grinding equipment from my dads place and see how they measure up after grinding them.

[DanStokes]

I'll do some diggin around. Replacements aren't expensive by any means. I just prefer the stockers. I might drive up to Jax and steal the valve and seat grinding equipment from my dads place and see how they measure up after grinding them.

I'm trying to remember the name of the head rebuilder in the Clearwater area. The last time I was there (Mom lived there for years) it was on the main drag from Clearwater to St. Pete - I think it was 19 but might have been alternate 19. Anyhow, big company and at least at one time they had ALL the equipment and were relatively cheap because they did so many of them. MANY years ago they did a head for my MGB that I brought with me from MI while we were visiting the folks. They did it in a couple of days, - boiled it out, flattened the deck, did the valves, etc. It ran great for the couple of years that I kept the car.

Dan

[Skeptical]

It needs a little cleanin' but it will do.





All cleaned, lubed up and ready to grind some valves.



Hmmm...... Looks safe to me!

[DanStokes]

Those are sweet old machines. A couple of the shops I worked in had them and they always made a pretty nice looking valve. Do you have the concentric seat grinder that came with these? I think they were additional money but the shops that I worked in had both. The concentric seat grinder isn't state of the art but they worked OK.

Dan

[Skeptical]

Those are sweet old machines. A couple of the shops I worked in had them and they always made a pretty nice looking valve. Do you have the concentric seat grinder that came with these? I think they were additional money but the shops that I worked in had both. The concentric seat grinder isn't state of the art but they worked OK.

Dan

I have "A" seat grinder. I don't know if it's the one that came with the machine though. One of these is what I learned on as a teenager. Now that i think about it, It's been quite a few years since I ground my own valves and seats. I enjoyed it back then and am looking forward to it. Plus I have several other sets of heads stashed away I can have some fun with at a later date.

[cstmwgn]

So I have to ask - exactly where is the "moist coast" of Florida?
I don't recall finding a dry one in my travels.

[Skeptical]

So I have to ask - exactly where is the "moist coast" of Florida?
I don't recall finding a dry one in my travels.

It's the medium sized area between the two cities on the coast that get a lot of rain and have palm trees. It's actually the excessively wet coast right now.

[cstmwgn]

It's the medium sized area between the two cities on the coast that get a lot of rain and have palm trees. It's actually the excessively wet coast right now.

Got to love the "Summer Time" pattern and sea breezes