Building a GSR

Ryan659

Active Member
Running through ideas of building a GSR from scratch since my LS is getting up there in miles and barely passing smog now a days. And plus it'd be a big improvement anyways.

I came across a guy that has a GSR motor already disassembled and said he'd sell it for $500.

Initial contact with the guy revealed this information about the engine:

"94 gsr disassembled. All parts are there. Needs to be rehoned or bored out. Head is fine. About 150,000 miles, rebuilt once before."

The already being rebuilt kind of made me nervous so I asked for some more info about it and got this:

"had water in 1 cylinder, went to do the head gasket and noticed some scoring of 2 cylinder walls. I was going to bore it out, but I never got to it. All cylinder were from 190-205psi, pretty healthy."

Was curious about taking a look at it but have no idea what to look for when doing this.

Any general tips would be appreciated, don't need spoon fed info because I can google that stuff and I ordered a book that received good reviews which should be here tomorrow.
 
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Samurai_Blue

Yolo Whippin'
Check for scoring on bearing journals and crank. Also see how he stored the crank. Should be standing vertical.
 

itzrivera

Member
Samurai_Blue said:
Check for scoring on bearing journals and crank. Also see how he stored the crank. Should be standing vertical.
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Not to thread jack op, but why would it have to be stored standing vertical? Just curious, not that I've ever pulled a motor apart before
 

Ryan659

Active Member
Samurai_Blue said:
Check for scoring on bearing journals and crank. Also see how he stored the crank. Should be standing vertical.
Click to expand...

Cool. Thanks man.

Still talking with him and he said he can take it to his work and I can check it out.

Makes me think it's not fully taken apart so it might be a gamble and won't know much until I open it up.
 

Samurai_Blue

Yolo Whippin'
if you are unsure about how the crank was stored, check the bearing journals for sure.
 


Nick_C78

New Member
Rebuild the head too. Do not put a old head on a used block or vise versa. It can cause problems down the road.
 

Ryan659

Active Member
Nick_C78 said:
Rebuild the head too. Do not put a old head on a used block or vise versa. It can cause problems down the road.
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Definitely man, if it happens, everything is getting built from the ground up. Literally :lol:

Just making a check list of major things to check since it's all torn apart (ie: head warp, scoring, etc....). Hell, even if just the crank is good it's gonna be a decent bargain.
 

TegSox

Super Duper Moderator
Ask if it was bored out the first time it was rebuilt. The cylinders can only be bored out 0.5mm beyond stock before you'll need to then sleeve the walls.
 

Samurai_Blue

Yolo Whippin'
good indication of that is the piston head. If its stamped 50 on the piston head its a 81.5mm piston. I think you can go up to 82mm and be fine with stock sleeves. Nick knows more about that than i do since he rebuilt so many of them and has more knowledge on that than me
 

Ryan659

Active Member


The block def needs a hone and the head needs a rebuild also.

But for $500 seems like a good deal.

First thing is I'm gonna take the block and crank to the machine shop to get professionally measured.
 
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Ryan659

Active Member
Found a highly recommended machine shop and am taking the following to get checked out on Saturday:
Block
Crank
Camshaft & gears
Pistons & rods
Assembled head

They'll measure everything and let me know what needs replacement and what can be used.

Was thinking about it and I am probably going to have them build the block and head. To buy all the tools for measurements, etc..., would prob cost just as much as having them do it :lol: but I'm gonna be attaching all the "external" stuff and also installing it to the body.
 
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