Thread: 383 in 1996 c1500 vortec

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first this has been a total nightmare. not naming names but i bought a 383 vortec long block on ebay. to start out they said it would be a couple weeks because they build them as they sell them. ok i am cool with that. well after almost 3 months i got the engine. it was on a pallet with 1 bolt so basically raise the engine with hoist and the pallet hangs from 1 bolt. the bag was ripped open and the harmonic balancer was setting in the valley not in a box. i received no gasket set or oil pump. the motor had been dropped. 12 push rods bent. the plate that bolts in valley to hold roller lifter plates was bent to hell. well the balancer beat everything in valley. i contacted seller and we agreed he would send me all the parts, gaskets, and pump. i know you say send it back. the rest of engine looked good so this is the route i took. the next day looking at engine i see 1 head just below the intake opening was hit really hard and was cracked. again i contacted seller and we agreed that he would send me a brand new head. i know send it back but i waited this long and looking at engine all the 383 mods looked great. while waiting on my parts i pulled the head and decided to pull a couple valves to see this three angle valve job. well since heads themselves were new the seats looked good. to bad the valves weren't but rough ground and never lapped in. i first sprayed brake clean in the intake side of head and the valves leak some. i sprayed the exhaust and it ran out like the valves were open. so i pulled the other head. disassembled and cleaned up the valve grind and lapped them in. i got all my parts and went ahead and did the valve work to the replacement head. i am glad i pulled the other head because the head gaskets were the thin metal gaskets and the gasket set he sent me was the thicker ones so i needed to use a matching set of gaskets. motor is back in ready to fire. i know a bunch of bull but i am hard headed. it didn't cost me anymore cash so i hope for the best.
wish me luck.

This happened to me waaaaay back when I first began hot rodding and I swore it would never happen again. Ever since then, I have bought everything piece by piece and assembled it myself. Nobody cares about your stuff like you do.

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as far as i am concerned you are the Man. i've read a lot of your technical post. and your right i won't do it again. i did find out why the sellers ebay is 100% positive because you don't get your engine till after 2 months and then you can't leave feedback. i will get his bad name out but just want to wait till i run my engine.
take care and thanks,
mark

I’m sorry to hear this, and I hope your luck with this engine improves from here.

There are some ways that sellers can get “fake” reviews also. I recently bought a package of off brand flashlight batteries from Amazon. When I received them, they came with a letter saying that they would warranty the batteries for 10 years if I gave them a positive review within the next three days. LOL, how would I know if the batteries were any good the first three days that I owned them?!

thanks and happy new year. i believe everyone has there bad deals. some just cost more than others. i finally fired up the engine yesterday and so far sounds and runs good. we'll see today on first road test.
thanks,