yea it likes to travel... and i was thinking more like really nasty oil. typing to fast and not thinking. lol

well its not tranny, converter or flywheel. def something in engine. got to dark to work and mosquitos could stand flat foot and shit in a dumpster. (there big)

ever heard of a tool that pinpoints where a sound is coming from? have one but not familiar with it. my dads the transmission tech that has been a mechanic all his life and has built engines before but not mine specifically. i trust him with the car but if it needs to be rebuilt i will be a bit worried. he recently built my brothers 350 for his 87 t/a and it runs great. really strong. if this was anything but engine i would have no worries. cars been in family since 95 so hes fixed/replaced almost everything atleast once. over 200k so i guess its about time.

is there any way to know for sure if its spun bearing without taking it out and physically looking or just waiting for the sound to become more noticeable? dont want to run it much longer if it does need a rebuild.

any recommendations on the next step?

 

spun bearings usually mean a significant drop in oil pressure...i say usually cause sometimes its a larger drop than others.

check your oil pressure
check if your getting knock
take a mechanics stethoscope/long screwdriver and listen around to try to pinpoint it
im not sure if an oscilloscope would be worthwhile to try or not though, so we will leave that till last.

 

yea thats what he called it.. stethoscope.. he wants to try that tomorrow... oil pressure is good... and raises when engine raises. no knocking noise yet. but could it be early and the wear on crank/rod not be bad enough to make a lot of noise?

i wont sleep at all tonight... found this book online that im thinking about getting.. figured it would help, if not now, sometime in the future. read some good reviews.
Amazon.com: How to Rebuild Small-Block Chevy Lt1/Lt4 Engines Hp1393: Books: Mike Mavrigian

 

why would that be used? isnt it strictly for electrical?.. ac/dc circuits? i dont know what it is but heres what i found...

https://www.cs.tcd.ie/courses/baict/...illoscope.html

does it measure/find distortions, voltage, current and more from the sound the circuit gives off?
Zelscope: Sound card oscilloscope and spectrum analyzer

 

with a specific transducer an oscilloscope can find just about whatever you want it to. hell it'll even tell you what cyl is misfiring if ya know how to use it.

and by knock, i meant knock the computer is seeing. sometimes it hears things you might not be able to.

and most of the rebuilding you'd do on an LT1 is really just assembly/dissassembly. the machine shop is going to do all the hard stuff pretty much. most people dont have the equipment to rebuild a block

 

^ +1...you dont have the tools to do the hard stuff....as far as rebuilding..u might not need much honestly..if its a spun bearing..most likely a new crank or they will have to cut the crank and get bearings to fit it correctly..and then maybe a new rod..then new rings gaskets seals etc..im sure ur dad could do it..
however i hope if u do rebuild u get some high comp pistons and get some big power from that motor...

sneaking..since u seem to know alot about v8s etc..(and im a honda guy and everythings pretty much universal on them hehe)..is there another 350 stock pistons he could use to increase compression? ie using maybe some ls1 pistons over stock lt1..or something sort of like that....any info im sure he would appreciate..

 

LS1's are actually 346's.

umm right off hand i do not think so. reason i say this is, LT1 was reverse flow cooled, so that allowed them to open the envelope on using higher compression. the reason the LT4's have high compression is the fact they have a smaller combustion chamber in the head. stock compression is 10.4:1...if he wanted to cut the heads a little he could bump the compression slightly. personally, if he is going to do a stock rebuild, i'd recommend summit, as they have rebuild kits for about 500-700 dollars that include everything to rebuild the motor minus rods/crank basically and you can choose among some pistons if that was really what his goal was. personally 10.4:1 is fine, he isn't going to be running alcohol or anything in the future that i can tell so what he has is fine. if the turn the crank though, he might be able to get an offset grind and pick up some cubes...but i dunno if it'd be worth it for him or not.

for the price he'd spend fixing that thing up, he could probably find a fair mileage LT1 somewhere for cheaper.

 

if im going to have to rebuild it i would like to build it up a little more. i dont mind spending the money but i would like to be close to 400hp all motor if possible. im able to spend almost 2k on rebuild... possible?

 

sneakin like he said if he wants like 400rwhp...what kind of compression would be necessary?..i know on hondas going upwards of 12.1 all motor is about the limit for 93octane with a tune of course..u think thats managable on his car..maybe 11.5:1...or would u use stock comp pistons and do other work??...it is daily driven but i know he wants some more hp out of his car...thanks for the info...

 

compression isnt an issue. there is little power to be had by just increasing the compression.

realisticly, your going to spend about 1k to rebuild the bottom end if you re-use everything. If you change out your pistons while your in there and go to ARP rod bolts, you'd be ok to run nitrous, say a 200 shot if you wanted to. 2k just isnt going to do too much for you. i would say the Lloyd Elliot package would be right up your alley for 400whp n/a but it'd put you way out of your price range when its all said and done.