1996 K1500 Z71 - Heart Transplant

[Travis5218]

Well at 185,000 miles the stock engine in my truck decided it's life was complete and decided to give up and commit suicide. She blew intake manifold gaskets (very common on this engine) and once I replaced the gaskets and got her all back together it developed a harsh knock in the bottom end. Drained oil and looked like bass boat flake in the oil.

So after talking to a friend of mine (mechanic that use to be at a GM dealer) he told me he had a ZZ4 350 that has less than 10k miles on it that he got through a warranty replacement deal at the dealership. So needless to say I jumped on it quick.

So the old engine is out and starting to clean up all parts off old engine that I will be using on the "new" engine and prepping the new engine and heads to go in. The engine and heads are the GMPP ZZ4 350... 880 Casting. Stock ratings are 355HP/405ft lb tq.

Old Nasty 350
http://i932.photobucket.com/albums/ad165/williams5218/9704376c.jpg

Old Dirty Girl
http://i932.photobucket.com/albums/ad165/williams5218/c33fde0b.jpg

New ZZ4 Head
http://i932.photobucket.com/albums/ad165/williams5218/36061d87.jpg

880 Casting On Freshly Painted Block
http://i932.photobucket.com/albums/ad165/williams5218/eea98608.jpg

New Block & Heads Going Together
http://i932.photobucket.com/albums/ad165/williams5218/e77fa016.jpg

All brackets and parts are being steam cleaned in the parts washer at work and painted prior to being put on the new engine. Literally no piece of anything is going on this engine with out being prepped and painted and cleaned. I will keep this thread updated as I go.


Here is a few shots of the truck.....
http://i932.photobucket.com/albums/ad165/williams5218/46a31441.jpg

http://i932.photobucket.com/albums/ad165/williams5218/b49456b8.jpg

http://i932.photobucket.com/albums/ad165/williams5218/d5ed744b.jpg

[Travis5218]

Once I pulled the oil pan off the old motor I figured out what went wrong with it. The main bearings are shot! Totally junked.

Also noticed while inside the pan that the engine was a 2 bolt main. Didnt all trucks have a 4 bolt main?

Make some suggestions on what lifters I should run. I seen a few posts about running LS Lifters but I'm not sure which ones to run. J was gonna use the stock ones out of the old motor but Im kinda scared to with all the metal in my oil.

I would like to find a lifter that Advance Auto sells on their website so I could use my 40% off coupon code! haha The one for my engine should be a Sealed Power HT-2148 but its not available online. On store only at $9.99 each.

[speedjunkie]

half tons had 2 bolts and 3/4 had 4 bolt.

[Travis5218]

Ahhhh...... SO that makes more sense now.

[old chevy man]

Thats a pretty nice truck man. .

[hokeplaya05]

good looking motor and truck. cant wait to rebuild mine. i wanted a black truck but very satisfied with the red/silver one i got

[Travis5218]

Thanks guys! It's a pretty solid truck with exception of the passenger side cab corner and area under ext cab window. Like I said earlier the stock 2 bolt let go it spun main bearings. At this point I'm building my new motor. It will be a complete ZZ4 bottom end with 96 Vortec heads and intake manifold. The EGR will be deleted and then taken out of the system via a tune from Justin at BlackBear Performamce. Bottom end has the ZZ4 cam. Heads are getting a nice port job and 1.6 roller rockers. :-)

[Travis5218]

http://img.tapatalk.com/c6e4c893-1c4c-99d4.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/c6e4c893-1c5b-6b5f.jpg

Going in with the new heart!

[Travis5218]

http://img.tapatalk.com/c6e4c891-21ba-b173.jpg

Coming along slowly

[speedjunkie]

Going to trow on a new poppet system or a vmax spacer. I bored out TB will help with that combo.

[Travis5218]

http://img.tapatalk.com/ad50a618-f3d9-06c3.jpg
Homemade air intake... :)

[mcrisby]

great thread! been thinking of going with the zz4 350 for my truck... my only question is, with the extra horsepower whats involved with tuning for the added power? or is any tuning needed?

[Travis5218]

BlackBear can take care of any of the tuning needs.

[Travis5218]

http://img.tapatalk.com/c6e4c89c-7338-64ca.jpg

Bought grade 8 bolts 5" long x 3/8"-16. Cut the heads off and back grinded the end to make the threads usable.

[oldred93]

http://img.tapatalk.com/ad50a618-f3d9-06c3.jpg
Homemade air intake... :)

you wouldnt be willing to show how you made that would you? Im very interested in making one.

[Travis5218]

you wouldnt be willing to show how you made that would you? Im very interested in making one.

http://img.tapatalk.com/c6e4c896-af72-7b4b.jpg

I took the factory bonnet that sits on top of throttle body and I cut all the baffling and silencers off the back and found a can that fit over the opening and high temp rtv'd it on and then took fifer glass resin and molded the can and plastic bonnet together and painted with spray in bed liner.

Then bought 2 rubber couplings in 4" at lowes and a 4" rubber 90* and a 2' piece of 4" PVC. Universal air filter at local autoparts store.

Badda bing badda bang.... Drilled hole in rubber elbow for intake air temp sensor.

[Travis5218]

http://img.tapatalk.com/c6e4c896-b0d4-a36c.jpg