Most of the bottom end is done with the freshening now. Got the lifters in record time (!!) and have been soaked and installed.



Engine block got several coats of BBQ paint after a thorough washdown, and the pistons/cylinders got some heavy oil for protection while the heads are off (looking into hot tanking those).





Timing chain looked pretty good...rotated the assembly quite a bit and the timing dots lined up perfect everytime, so I'm thinking the timing can be left alone. The timing cover cleaned up ok, but I've still got a little bit to go before I consider it clean.

Looking good. That'* about how the Zilla'* new motor sits right now. On the same damn engine stand.

That is really clean. I am partial to the black, but there'* nothing wrong with a bit of red or orange! That engine block looks so fresh! It makes me want to rebuild my own even more. You guys are doing an awesome job.

Optional colors are dependent on Booze. ZM East ( ) tends to like black. It hides flaws rather well

Lookin' real good!

Near everyone goes red/orange, I have always wanted to dress the engine up in white/gold. If you wana play with the scheme or just use one color, go for it. Or you can just go black and leave it, and I'll dress it up when I have the motor out again, probably in the next 25-100k miles when the tranny decides to go.

But this is so awesome, thanks again so much!

Dad was saying he'd like to have the timing chain replaced, he just knows on the old V8s they should be replaced about 100k miles, not sure if its a different time range for the 3800 or not but...idk

Nobody with a Series 1 has ever broken a chain, and more than a few have gone over 300k.

We have a dampener/tensioner that takes care of it. In spite of the heavier load. Our chain is beefy because it turns not only the cam, but the balance shaft as well. When I pulled my timing chain out of the Zilla at 120k last winter, I couldn't see a visible difference, nor was I able to measure squat for difference between the old beat up chain (yes, I abuse that car) and the new one.

If it would help your peace of mind, the new chain won't cost much.

Well, If you guys think its good to go, then I don't have a problem leaving that one on there, dad feels the same way.

Thanks for the info

I have some white, high-temp paint, and it looks great! I forgot to mention it. If white is what you're considering, you've got my vote on quality color. I just don't know how it would match the chassis paint. In the pictures, is the engine block already painted aftermarket, or is that how you got it?

I believe Brad has already painted the block Black
Which is a mighty fine color I might add

I'm not exactly sure how a white block would look, i have seen gold (like 50'* and 60'* Chevrolet had Gold(or bronze) engine blocks IIRC). But I'm just after some accenting now, just to set it off, nothing big really...

Engine blocks, at least this block (1995) weren't painted at all. They were coated with some sort of black epoxy, real thick too. It cleaned up well enough, but I wanted it to be completely black, so on went some high-temp BBQ paint. It matched up well enough to the original color pretty well, and I had to put on at least 4 coats of the stuff.

Something I pointed out to Don when he was over here was that these blocks are NOT zero-deck engines. What this means is that the piston travels beyond the deck and into the head. (Actually, now that I think about it, they WOULD be zero-deck when you take the head gasket into account).

I also noticed a plug that goes into the lifter valley, located right above the timing cover. It'* too high for an oil temp sensor, so the only use I could think of for it would be an oil return hose for anything that needed to be externally oiled. Like a turbo, for instance.