To Rebuild it or buy rebuilt?

Ok i found some metal shavings in pan i think my bearings are going and why my oil light keeps coming on. My questions are what do i do now should i rebuild or buy a rebuilt motor? If i rebuild who carries master rebuild kits for a good price? do any of you know of any good prices on rebuilt engine? Ive seen master rebuild kits on ebay going for around $700 any kits or rebuilders i should be leery about? Cheapest rebuilt engines ive come across are for $1500 blocks been tested new head gaskets pistons rings main bearings rod bearings oil pump head bolts. Im just trying to weigh my options out here and then go from there. Any suggestions, thoughts, opinions are welcome. Thanks

Some things to consider before you embark on rebuilding it yourself, is the motor rebuildable? How good are you at building motors? Is this your daily driver? What kind of warranty comes with those 1500 buck rebuilds?

wont know untill further teardown if motor is rebuildable. It will start it will run but looses oil pressure like crazy. Its been awhile since ive rebuilt anything my last project was a 77 chevy c10 with a 250 inline six cylinder all crane parts lifters, pushrods, gold race roller rockers, 396 double coil valve springs ( had to have head work done at machine shop to accomodate for the valve springs from a 396) 510 lift cam with 510 lift on intake and 510 lift on exhaust, 3 way valve job on valves, holley off road carb i mildly built the inline 6 myself. I dont see a problem rebuilding the diesel it will be first diesel project. if i decide to rebuild myself. Only a 90 day warranty comes with the 1500 rebuilds. only downfall for me right now is i dont have a garage myself to do project in and it being mid winter i have to wait till buddy can get access to shop he works at so i have place to do work in instead of outside in cold. Could be a week could be two weeks untill he can get access. so kinda sucks right now. that is why purchasing a rebuilt comes to mind.

long block it

It would be cheeper to get a long block assembly like you wrote about. Quality mfg. usually give a one year warranty or 200$ more for 3 year, 36k warranty. Jasper engines is one we use in ga. By the time you go through machine shop work [vating,valve job,cam bearings, cyl. sleeves?, machine heads?-not sure if wise due to valve claerance and compression difference] possible piston or rod replacement,gasket set,freeze plugs, special tools, it's costly. Don't forget to add paying yourself 25$ an hour while working on the basic rebuild .

There's a rebuilt 6.2 in Ft Riley, KS going off today if you don't mind the drive. That would be the cheapest solution. I rebuilt one for mine and I'm into it for @3500-4000. That's with full balance, DSG gears/girdle, new GM heads-tin-manifold-hardware, ect... There are a lot of little things that you don't think about that add up. All new internal bolts/nuts and head bolts from GM will run close to 500. You can buy a rebuilt for less than building it. I personally wanted to build it so I knew what I had when finished.

try to find a engine for sale in a auction

That's the route I would (and will) go. Pick up another 6.2 that's running for 400-600 to swap and get your truck motoring then rebuild your current motor however you like. No worries about getting the truck back on the road if you want to take your time and build a bit stouter mill. I got a 6.2 engine with a nearly complete banks turbo and th400 transmission (2wd tailshaft) for $450 last year. My intent is to swap the motors and rebuild the original one with intent of keeping the banks setup when I put it back in.

If the motor in question runs good other than the shavings and low oil pressure you mite consider installing a crank kit. We have customers in our shop who have these engines in their vehicles and seems that they are usually good for around 200-300,000 miles before a rebuild is necessary.
Just my thoughts
CT

ctmustang said:

If the motor in question runs good other than the shavings and low oil pressure you mite consider installing a crank kit. We have customers in our shop who have these engines in their vehicles and seems that they are usually good for around 200-300,000 miles before a rebuild is necessary.
Just my thoughts
CT

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I agree. I would pull the pan and pull the caps off and look at the bearings.
If the crank in not all screwed up you might get away with just replaceing the bearings and oil pump,
If the crank is realy scored bad take it to a rebuilder and have them resurface it.
About 3 hours of work on your part and 100s of less dollars

From my perspective:

I was a Jasper rep for a number of years & know that we junked 80+% of the GM 6.2/6.5 blocks due to cracks. I recommend the Jasper remans to this day over rebuilding, for a few simple reasons...

- They magnaflux the block & heads to see if they are able to be remanufactured.
- ALL new valvetrain components; no reground valves or shimmed springs.
- Cranks are polished & mic'd.
- Blocks are torque-plate honed & all 8 holes match.
- Heads are checked for cracks & reman'd
- Warranty on the long-blocks & Running Complete format engines

They build a good product - http://www.jasperengines.com/pdf/GM 6.5 Diesel Flyer.pdf

6.5 info...

Question is:

How long do you plan to keep the truck?

What is its intended use?

You can buy a used 'runner' engine, but can you trust it any farther than the one you already have?

FWIW - I haven't been affiliated with Jasper since I left in '04, so I have zero financial gain in them selling a unit. But I strongly recommend them if it is a truck that you plan to keep for a long time. Also, make sure that the peripheral parts - IP/fuel system/cooling system/electrical system, etc., are up to the task as well and performing as they should - I had many warranty issues caused by crapped-out injection pumps & injectors installed from the old engine that caused issues on the new engine.

'Tanner'

kenny said:

I agree. I would pull the pan and pull the caps off and look at the bearings.
If the crank in not all screwed up you might get away with just replaceing the bearings and oil pump,
If the crank is realy scored bad take it to a rebuilder and have them resurface it.
About 3 hours of work on your part and 100s of less dollars

Click to expand...

The 6.2 crank can be polished but cannot be cut - it has surface-hardened journals.

'Tanner'