[oil pan 4]

For my next engine build I have already pulled it gutted it and stripped it.
My 7.4L engine had a bad head gasket. I could have just fixed it but that's lame and it had other underlying problems.

The problems,
The main problem was coolant in the oil from the head gasket. After the head was off I could see where the coolant was getting into the #5 cylinder.
So coolant had been leaking into the oil for months, maybe longer.
The was a slight knock from the bottom end.
The #5 cylinder had a lot of taper due to oil wash.
Some of the freeze plugs were paper thin they were falling apart when I was trying to pull them out, I don't know how they were not leaking. I am thinking some of them had been replaced at some point.

The cause of the knock appeared to be very well warn bearings on most of the rods, possibly caused by excessive main bearing clearance. Main bearings were not just warn they were eroded, likely do to oil starvation or just 31 years of running hard for 150,000 miles. The crank is slightly scored.

To fix up and reuse the old block I have pulled the engine almost completely apart. The machine shop will acid dip, bore +0.030 hone, deck, install new cam bearings in the block. Then determine new push rod length, reuse the stock rods, have the pins floated, new bolts and regrind the rod big ends. I found the old OEM truck rods with new rod bolts are actually more desirable than new cheap rods.

New stuff will be an internal balance 4.25 stroke cast steel crank, balancer and flex plate.
Piston are -17cc cast hypereutectic alloy, they are cheaper than forged and fit tighter in the bore than forged, I don't want piston rattling around in the bore when I start it up on cold mornings.
The machine shop will balance all the moving parts together. Just like I did with my diesel. I might balance the pistons, because its easy to do.

To boost efficiency I am going to bump the compression from less than 9:1 up to about 11:1, that should make things interesting.
Then my favorite, file fit moly coated rings to keep the air and fuel in the cylinder.
Aluminum oval port heads from GMPP or edelbrock at Scoggin and dickys in Lubbock. Going aluminum saves around 50lb and the higher heat transfer of aluminum will cooperate with the new much higher compression. I am going to use 110cc heads just for the fact that they are cheaper. Turns out only edelbrock makes the 100cc heads so they can charge what ever they want, everyone makes 110cc heads.
Then I am going to upgrade to a hydraulic roller cam and lifters. GM claimed going to a roller cam increased fuel economy by about 1 to 2mpg highway in addition to the oil additive issue.
Then for block heaters I am going to do exactly what I did with my diesel. Put double 600w block heaters, one on each side of the engine.
Then for the exhaust I have a pair of shorty 2nd gen Camaro headers to put on.