Bad news....
 

well the day after I got back from PA I went to move the car into the garage and when I started it the starter motor bound. Got it freed up, pop started the car and put it in the garage. Go tit up on the lift today and pulled the starter out. Well the problem was somewhere along the line of it's life there appears to have been a hairline fracture put into one of the ears of the motor (guessing it was dropped) which cracked and broke the ear off allowing the starter to hit the flywheel (there was alot of discoloration on the ear so the crack was pretty old), worse news is it ripped a bunch of teeth off the brand new flywheel I just put it in and the really bad news is it cracked the engine block and broke a big piece off the side of the block :(. So basically my whole engine needs to be rebuilt now because of a starter motor. I think this is the last straw, I am probably going to just part the engine out and put a stock engine of somekind in it.

project never ends...

wow that blows I would look to see if some one can weld it up or I would just swap to a lq9 block with a smaller cam that way it is more docile but would still have the low end grunt. But man that sucks and all but a stock motor would not have prevented any of that so dont look at it like it was the motors fault IMO. I know it blows but shit you have 4 months to fix it if you can find the cash at lest its not April.

i may be wrong as to where it broke but should be able to weld it back in with a nice tig. might still have to pull it out though.

Wow! That sucks Nick! Sorry to hear about the damage done.

Don't give up man, you've worked too hard to turn around now!

LQ9 block would mean changing pistons, I may try to repair it but the way it is cracked is going to make it very very weak and it is going to have to deal with a starter motor. I have another 5.7 block I was going to use for the Tahoe but if this engine comes out I am not going to re-use it, I could use the money for the parts that I have on it and frankly I am sick of working on the car all the friggin time.

Circle Performance specializes in welding up aluminum engine blocks. he charges 110 and hour WICHHH sucks. but he machined my motor and a few other peoples i know and there Perfect. Guys great to deal with, give hima call depending on were it is he may even be able to weld it with the motor together.

That's fine and dandy but it still means removing the engine, if it comes out again it is going bye bye, I am going to be unemployed for a little bit and don't want to be fucking around. real shit thing is it runs great, just can't start it without a push or pull

wow that really sucks sorry to hear that man ...goes to show the project will never be done. hope what ever you decide to do works out for you