Started taking apart the bottom half

I sure do have a lot to learn and taking my time with this rebuild. If you notice anything wrong please chime in. I am simply sharing this info for the novice folks like me that have never worked on an LT5 and hopefully get input from the pros that might catch me doing something wrong or see something that is questionable. The way I figure, members posts have helped me get this far and I am sure there is someone worse off than me. If money was not object and I did not live in Hawaii, I would surely ship this motor off to a builder so I could sleep every night.

So even though I am with post recovery from surgery, I decided to try to do a little at a time so I can keep this project moving.


Took off the oil pan and looking pretty clean to me. I gain more appreciation for the LT5 the more I take this thing apart and see what went into the development for its time. The OEM gasket was like new and I don't think this was gone into before so it says something about the quality of the factory gaskets to me. No sealants of any type and no leaks from the oil pan.



Everything looks pretty clean but do see some of the fine metal powdery stuff that I heard is normal. At least no other pieces of metal.







There sure are a lot of sharp edges on the block and not sure if that is the standard with supposedly high end engines that this was supposed to be.



This is as far as I got and hope to continue a little be more today. I am trying to get the Kent-Moore J 38211 or replacement to pull the crankshaft sproket off and not sure if really needed. I have some other pullers, but that gear is not something I want to take a chance damaging. I have a standard 2 arm gear puller, but it does not seem to grab enough that I want to take a chance as seeing the illustration in the FSM looks like the way to go.

I'll post the connecting rod bearings and the main bearings as a follow on to this post.