Recommendations for a rebuild

[Channeled]

I'm about to pull my '87's motor out due to a blown head gasket and I was hoping to get some recommendations on building the motor back up. I want to keep it street friendly and still work into the low 12's. The previous owner had already put a T44 on it and blue injectors other than that i'm not sure. I was thinking stock bottom end and possibly replacing pistons and cam not to mention all the bearings. I have a decent budget for it and want to optimize my gains. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[turbows6]

You can run low 12's easily with a stock rebuild. Make sure your bearing clearances are correct. Straight deck surfaces are very, very important, and make sure the decks are clean as a surgeons table with no oils (I don't even touch the head gaskets except on the edges)

 

[Channeled]

What's a good head gasket for these motors, so I don't have this problem again?

 

[BlackBandit]

What's a good head gasket for these motors, so I don't have this problem again?

Depends on why they blew. If you're not going low 11's on factory style gaskets then you're doing something wrong and if you stick a cometic or something in there things will most likely get ugly.

 

[Channeled]

I think they let go because the high mileage on the motor. Im not sure if the previous owner ever pulled apart this motor and if he didn't, then the gaskets had 150k on them.

 

[BlackBandit]

head gaskets aren't really a wear item. They'll last forever if you don't detonate the motor. If you're shooting for 12's I'd go with a felpro 9441pt.

 

[Channeled]

I'd mostly like to stay in the 12's to avoid running a cage if i ever take it to the track. I'm thinking high 11's-12 range in a street car would be plenty. I've just never built a Buick motor before so I'm trying to find the most durable parts that can handle street life.

 

[turbows6]

If the motor was running good other than the head gasket blowing I might just put new head gaskets on. With 150k on the engine it probably wouldn't hurt to rebuild though.

 

[Channeled]

I was thinking about swapping cams out while I had the motor apart, has anybody had any bad experiences with the Comp Cam roller cams with Morel roller lifters?

 

[Phoneguy]

You are not going to see gains from a larger roller cam with stock unported heads. If you are going roller for longevity purposes and you have the budget go for it just don't expect magical performance gains. I would put better pistons/rods in and billet caps and go with stock style head gaskets. Get a TT chip and a set of 60 lb injectors, scanmaster/powerlogger. The billet caps are not necessary at your power level but why not put them in while it is being built. Good luck

Bryan

 

[TurboTnZ06]

Option 1. Pull the heads, buy a set of champion ported irons, put on a new timing chain and call it good for another 75K miles.

Option 2. You can go for a rebuild, I'd say reuse everything but do upgrade to forged pistons.

 

[Channeled]

New info, broke down the block last nite and found it was 60 over already. Stamped right on top of the piston. Block is going to a machinist today and will find out what if anything is salvagable. Anyone one got a spare 109 laying around?