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Rebuilding a 3.1

371 Views 13 Replies 7 Participants Last post by  diablo8c4
ok to rebuild a 3.1, how exactly do you rebuild a 3.1, what parts to you "rebuild" and how much is the estimated cost, and what do you gain out of it, horsepower... what? Thanks for your respone. Remember, always keep a bag of peanuts in the glove box!
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use the "Search" feature conveniently listed at the top. it will answer many generic questions such as this.

you can do partial rebuilds, complete rebuilds, bore out the cylinders or leave them how they are, etc. it all depends on what you want to do with it and how much money you're willing to spend. for the best results, find a knowledgable machinist or machine shop and talk to them about it

i spent about $2k on mine going for a fairly good performance rebuild.
ok man thanks!
Rebuilding all depends on your goals and the amount of wear in your motor.. Usualy you'll have the cylinders bored, over size pistons, full gasket set, valves serviced.. You can get away with out boring and new pistons if your cylinders don't have a lot of wear in them but most likely they will need to be bored..
There is a book which would really help you. Its title is "How to Rebuild Your 60° V6" Its hard to find in this country, but I just got one from www.motorbooks.co.uk/ This is a company in England that I found it at. It goes through every step of rebuilding our engines. It cost about $30 but is worth it.
To answer the question of "What do you gain?".....

You will or hope to gain what you set out to do before you even turn a bolt to disassemble the engine, start with a plan of what your goals are, many people rebuild for more power, changing parts, grinding this or that, etc, to gain HP, engines are also rebuilt for economy, Can also be called "freshening" to make the engine like new again. Others, like me, rebuild because of enjoyment and making parts work together that were never inteded to be in the same engine, looking for that "extra" edge for performance and/or economy.
nciely put, if my goal was for performance, would that endanger my engine or possibly cause it to fail sooner then if i did it to make it fresh?
tnd27 said:
nciely put, if my goal was for performance, would that endanger my engine or possibly cause it to fail sooner then if i did it to make it fresh?
Let's put it this way...

No, a properly done performance type rebuild itself does not mean it will fail any sooner than a stock "freshining" rebuild, the reason most performance egines are said to fail sooner is, when you build a performance engine, you intend to push it to it's limits on a regular basis, any engine running on the edge often, will fail sooner than an engine that is not, pushed as hard as often.
got ya, any ideas on where to start or get info on how to start rebuilding my engine performance wise?
I would start on the heads, get them redone, it can get a lil spendy but you cant go wrong with a set of good flowing heads
If you are limited on $ you can start small and work up. There are some "how to's" that you can do that will help performance that don't cost alot. You need to decide on a goal for your performance rebuild. For instance mine was to do as much to the engine as possible while still staying fuel injected. (No turbo or NOS) From there I started accumulating parts. First I bought stuff I knew I needed. I bought a Felpro gasket set (about $200) I bought the FDP 62mm throttle body, then a custom WAI, then started thinking on what cam I wanted. I also decided what pistons and rings to use and bought them. I then bought valve train parts, and ported and polished heads. I think you get the idea. Once all the parts were bought I then pulled and tore down the engine and started with the machine shop work, and then assembly. It is alot of effort which takes alot of your time and money. My engine ran on Sept 26th. Total cost was just over $3000 which was spent over about an 18 month period. Hope this helps!
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i'm starting a build myself this winter to a 3.1 here is what i have in mind so fare:

cylinders bored not much just to clean up.
10.1:1 forged pistons
3 angle Valve job
62mm throttle body
new injectors
bosch plugs
accel wires
relocate coils.
MSD coils
Crank
Cam
Lifters
Rockers
springs
New timing chain. (just so its new)
ported/polished
bigger fuel pump
header wrap
intake w/wrap
180 deg. temp.
superchip
smaller pulley
remove AC!
upgrade alt. 105 amp and wiring

i think thats just about it if anyone would like to add anything PLEASE DO!
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Not too much left to add unless you want a lighter flywheel. They may be able to save your crank. Go with a double roller timing chain, dual coil 105lb valve springs. How about higher compression pistons? H692CP with moly rings will put you at about 9:5 to 1. Otherwise sounds great.
thank you for your info on the timing chain i'll take that to mind
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