353 Rebuild

[m561gamagoat]

I searched thru the forum but really didnt see anywhere that described the cost of a rebuild. My DD of course has blow by and slobbers out alot of watery oily stuff. Im sure a rebuild would help. If anyone has any info I am in the Ohio area. Tia.

 

[PointnShoot4WD]

Entirely dependant on who does the work. If you can find someone to do the work.
I had a shop in Carbondale Pa quote me 5500 to convert a 353-T to suit my Goat, given the work involved I guess that would be analogous to a rebuild.
But then the DD rep in Augusta Ga wanted to charge me 15,500 to rebuild the engine I had.

 

[G744]

This guy does them in his shop. I've done them in my garage.

No machinework usually, just buy the parts kit and go.

Most of the work is cleaning the greasy bugger up.

 

[87cr250r]

Is it slobbering out the air box drains? This is normal. There are check valves you can install that close the drains when the engine is running.

 

[msgjd]

i have a DD371 and a 471 that slobbered more than normal and they also blew oil out the dipsticks .. Were wet-stacking somewhat too .. Both of them had done nothing but easy work (cranes) before I bought the machines .. But before resorting to rebuilding them, I put dragshovel (backhoe) attachments on them and put them to work in the pit at 1/3rd throttle, making them work and lug instead of being wound out.. After almost a week of good hard work, they both straightened right out .. Very little slobber and no more blow-by at the dipstick , and they start better too.. I have to wonder if your "53" needs to get itself a good dose of hard work for awhile

 

[byrdman1312]

Back in the early 1980s I was a waterfowl manager for Tennessee Wildlife. I had a 671 and a 453 that I used to pump water. DDs are the most rugged and dependable engines I know of , but they are as nasty as they are loud. Just because they are slobbering oily stuff doesn't necessarily mean there is something wrong with them, especially with the 353 in the gamagoat. Everybody I've ever talked to that operated the GG says that is normal.

 

[G744]

My experience is the airbox drains piss oil as designed. The other place was the rear accessory drive plates on the timing cover.

No matter how many times I changed the gaskets & sealer, oil still weeped out.

 

[87cr250r]

If I ever rebuild another 71 series I'll ditch the gaskets on the end sheets and use Loctite 515. The last two 6-71 engines I built had the check valves on the airbox drains and a catch can. They were relatively clean. I made an error building the blowers on both engines and missed a spot when applying sealant that needed it. That was most of the leakage on those engines. They each ran 20k hours that way.

 

[G744]

The simplicity of the GM 2-stroke system sold me on them years ago.

Power-to-weight ruled until electronically controlled Diesels came about.

You do know they were designed to just make noise? That the smaller the engine (the 2-53N), the more noise it made?

Then someone figured out there was a lot of usable power to be had as well...

 

[87cr250r]

At 1200 rpm the 71 series engines in generator applications were actually pleasantly quiet. A 6-71 only made 75 KW in that configuration, though.

 

[G744]

And a 16V-149 just burbled at high idle, hence my comment about inverse size...

 

[byrdman1312]

I remember reading on one of the chat forums, could be this one, don't remember. That the 353 in the Gamagoat was very efficient at turning fuel into noise with some forward movement. I was also told by an old retired sargent that gamagoats would go places that GIs didn't need to be driving.