gygmy Posted February 25, 2005 Report Share Posted February 25, 2005 I was trying to access the past posts through the search and had no luck. Has anyone here rebuilt or had rebuilt for them the Northstar engine ? Just curious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Nunnally Posted February 25, 2005 Report Share Posted February 25, 2005 The Northstar can be rebuilt, and overbored. My Dealer had my 1996 Seville STS' northstar repaired in this manner with good results. Be sure to have the heads time-serted, but otherwise a normal repair. Bruce 2016 Cadillac ATS-V gray/black Follow me on: Twitter Instagram Youtube Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
32v_dohc Posted February 25, 2005 Report Share Posted February 25, 2005 Despite what is written and reported (by people who know not of what they speak...) the Northstar cylinders can be rebored if necessary. The liners are designed for a 1mm overbore if necessary in service.....so much for that. I have seen a number of performance Northstar engines that were built with oversized custom pistons that were "bored out".... Guru wrote this some time ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
james thomas smith Posted February 25, 2005 Report Share Posted February 25, 2005 Despite what is written and reported (by people who know not of what they speak...) the Northstar cylinders can be rebored if necessary. The liners are designed for a 1mm overbore if necessary in service.....so much for that. I have seen a number of performance Northstar engines that were built with oversized custom pistons that were "bored out".... Guru wrote this some time ago. Where talking about average customers not custom engine builders. I guess you can buy those custom pistons from cadillac also? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gygmy Posted February 25, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2005 Can oversized pistons be obtained from GM ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
32v_dohc Posted February 25, 2005 Report Share Posted February 25, 2005 Despite what is written and reported (by people who know not of what they speak...) the Northstar cylinders can be rebored if necessary. The liners are designed for a 1mm overbore if necessary in service.....so much for that. I have seen a number of performance Northstar engines that were built with oversized custom pistons that were "bored out".... Guru wrote this some time ago. Where talking about average customers not custom engine builders. I guess you can buy those custom pistons from cadillac also? Silvolite has a part number for a .25mm overbore piston. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gygmy Posted February 25, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2005 That's what I like to hear. Straight to the point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danbuc Posted February 26, 2005 Report Share Posted February 26, 2005 If your looking to make it bulletproof, teh Eagle H-beam connecting rods would be a nice tough. Hardly neccesary, but nice. I was looking around for a company that manufactured pistons for the northstar. I'll have to give Silvolite a call myself, and look into this. I've been meaning to buy a northstar off of ebay for cheap, to see if I could rebuild it, and make it run better than new. Good Luck with the rebuild. edit: 32v_dohc, you wouldn't happen to have the part number for thise pistons, or any easy way to find them would you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gygmy Posted February 26, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2005 I am not planning to rebuild an engine right now. This is just to gain information. I really like this car and it does not hurt to have options for the future. I have to break down a 400 pontiac I have in stock first and hopefully the NS will last as long as our old 4.9. I'm a bit confused about the NS rebuild subject. It seems to cause controversy. It seemed like a simple question. Has anybody rebuilt or had rebuilt for them the Northstar engine? If it can be done and there seems to be a bunch of misinformation,predjudice out there against the engine it might be in my benefit to pick one up that I come across because nobody wants them. Do you catch what I'm trying to say? Is this off base? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Posted February 26, 2005 Report Share Posted February 26, 2005 Someone on the board is rebuilding his NS now. He has been consulting with Guru throughout the process. I will do a search Its Jhall and he is doing an extensive rebuild, very impressive. Do a search under jhall and you can see his progress. This thread made me think about how he was doing today Early on sailors navigated by the stars at night and the North star became the symbol for finding ones way home. Once you know where the Northstar is you can point your ship in the right direction to get home. So the star became a symbol for finding ones way home or more symbolically even finding ones path in life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhall Posted February 26, 2005 Report Share Posted February 26, 2005 gygmy, You didn't note the milage on the engine, but if it's less than 150K, have a good look at the cylinder walls and see if the cross-hatch is still there. If so, you'd be wasting time / money on oversized pistons. Drop the pan, oil manifold and oil shield to see the rods / crank mains. Roll the crank and have a look at the piston skirts. You will likely see the original lathe marks on the pistons if the crosshatch is still present in the cylinder walls. I'm in the process of rebuilding a '97 Deville N* with 130K. In spite of what I expected, there was virtually no wear on the cylinders, pistons or crankshaft main bearings (I used Plasti-gage to check crank clearances - well within factory specs). The only issue I had was with the exhaust valves and seats which were pitted, but should be able to be ground back into proper condition (at least according to the machine shop). Look carefully before you pull anything down past the main bolts. Don't remove the piston rods unless you see piston or cylinder wear. The rod bolts are "stretch" type bolts and must be replaced if they are removed. Make sure you Timesert the head bolt threads in the block - no matter how good they may look via visual inspection. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhall Posted February 26, 2005 Report Share Posted February 26, 2005 Here's a few pics of a N* teardown http://jadcock.oldsgmail.com/cadsls/images...ics/default.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gygmy Posted February 26, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2005 Thanks for all the info. I do not want you to think I am in the process of rebuilding a NS engine right now. I just got really confused with all this chatter about how it could not be done. I really like this car, and I have a feelling we will run it for a long time. I would probably like to keep such a fun car for even longer after it is not a daily driver. In other words I am planning ahead. Also, you never know what you might come across, say a NS engine. Shoot, We've had Jag V12's show up in my bro in laws shop's back lot. But if you can't rebuild it it's just one big friggin paper weight. Thanks again for all the usefull information. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gygmy Posted February 26, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2005 Oh yeah, jhall, tried your site for the rebuild but it came up with an error message. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhall Posted February 26, 2005 Report Share Posted February 26, 2005 Do a search on the caddyinfo board for "pics" or "jhall". The link is under "Northstar teardown" or something similar. I'm not sure why the link won't work outside the search list, but you can see them from there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STYES Posted February 26, 2005 Report Share Posted February 26, 2005 The NS is not commonly rebuilt at the dealer level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Topcat9pet Posted February 26, 2005 Report Share Posted February 26, 2005 For all the newcomers to this site, like me, take a minute and check out www.chrfab.com. it may put a different light on the Northstar versatility and capabilities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maremrak Posted February 26, 2005 Report Share Posted February 26, 2005 Thanks Topcat9pet. Great site. 1960 Sedan De Ville (sold) 1970 Coupe De Ville (sold) 1987 Mazda RX-7 (sold) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
97 deville Posted February 26, 2005 Report Share Posted February 26, 2005 I am not planning to rebuild an engine right now. This is just to gain information. I really like this car and it does not hurt to have options for the future. I have to break down a 400 pontiac I have in stock first and hopefully the NS will last as long as our old 4.9. I'm a bit confused about the NS rebuild subject. It seems to cause controversy. It seemed like a simple question. Has anybody rebuilt or had rebuilt for them the Northstar engine? If it can be done and there seems to be a bunch of misinformation,predjudice out there against the engine it might be in my benefit to pick one up that I come across because nobody wants them. Do you catch what I'm trying to say? Is this off base? The northstar engines are generally nonrebuildable. They will accept a 1mm overbore, however 1mm (one-thousandth of a meter), or .0394 inch is infinitesimal when considering boring a block. Whe engines are rebuilt they are usually bored anywhere from .10 inch to .30 over. The design of the northstar was intended to be compact, therefore GM saw to it that it be built this was. The only drawback would be an expensive undertaking by the consumer in the end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
32v_dohc Posted February 26, 2005 Report Share Posted February 26, 2005 I am not planning to rebuild an engine right now. This is just to gain information. I really like this car and it does not hurt to have options for the future. I have to break down a 400 pontiac I have in stock first and hopefully the NS will last as long as our old 4.9. I'm a bit confused about the NS rebuild subject. It seems to cause controversy. It seemed like a simple question. Has anybody rebuilt or had rebuilt for them the Northstar engine? If it can be done and there seems to be a bunch of misinformation,predjudice out there against the engine it might be in my benefit to pick one up that I come across because nobody wants them. Do you catch what I'm trying to say? Is this off base? The northstar engines are generally nonrebuildable. They will accept a 1mm overbore, however 1mm (one-thousandth of a meter), or .0394 inch is infinitesimal when considering boring a block. Whe engines are rebuilt they are usually bored anywhere from .10 inch to .30 over. The design of the northstar was intended to be compact, therefore GM saw to it that it be built this was. The only drawback would be an expensive undertaking by the consumer in the end. Nope. You've got the decimal in the wrong place. For example chevy 350's have common pistons in 4.020, 4.030, 4.040, and 4.060 for a 4 inch bore. These are the 20, 30, 40, and 60 over pistons. The northstar can be bored to the metric equivalent of 40 over. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gygmy Posted February 28, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 28, 2005 OK. It can be done. It is just a pain in the kiester because GM has not made it a priority to back up these engines with whatever support it would take to make the situation better. My guess, $$$. I'm suprised. I would think that the investment in this engine would be backed-up with a better program for the owners and those who would wish to profit, by assisting them in maintaining, improving performance, and rebuilding these engines. This behavior is not good in the long run to create buyer loyalty, respect for the engineering, and trust in the corporation. It's a dumb philosophy if true. They could make so much more bucks in the long run if they backed up their products because they would create interest in a much larger group of people who would maintain, cherish, and improve their cars. They would not lose the market they have already, they would only improve apon it and build for the future. This semi-rant is based on the information I have gleened from web sites and the lack of feed-back from Cadillac. Still dig the car, hope they get their act together. It would be good for them, us, and the North American economy. Peace, Love.WOT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gygmy Posted March 2, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2005 The question was can the Northstar be rebuilt? Why did I ask this? There seems to be a lot of people claiming that it can't be done. There are people who would like to have their engines rebuilt but have had problems finding a qualified shop to do it or find obtaining parts a real hassle. I was just wondering why this seems to be the case and why if it is'nt has'nt GM addressed the situation in order to reassure the users of it's products and to protect the integrity and reputation of the engine. This is what I find confusing. Are you saying that finding a qualified shop to work on these engines is a simple matter? If I contact a distributor of GM parts I will have no problem in obtaining the parts I need to rebuild ? Which is it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cadillac Jim Posted February 25, 2006 Report Share Posted February 25, 2006 The question was can the Northstar be rebuilt? Why did I ask this? There seems to be a lot of people claiming that it can't be done. There are people who would like to have their engines rebuilt but have had problems finding a qualified shop to do it or find obtaining parts a real hassle. I was just wondering why this seems to be the case and why if it is'nt has'nt GM addressed the situation in order to reassure the users of it's products and to protect the integrity and reputation of the engine. This is what I find confusing. Are you saying that finding a qualified shop to work on these engines is a simple matter? If I contact a distributor of GM parts I will have no problem in obtaining the parts I need to rebuild ? Which is it? I think it's pretty clear that the Nothstar can be rebuilt, but that rebuild parts are not provided by GM. The piston brand cited in this thread is an aftermarket source. It's 0.25 mm, or about 10 thousands, oversize. Other posts say that you can go up to 40 thousandths (1 mm) overbore. I've seen exchange rebuilt Northstar engines on the web for flat rates on the order of $3500 (it's been awhile, but I belive that's the neighborhood). Call around local engine rebuilders and ask who works with Northstars a lot. You may want to consider a new engine. I understand from posts here that the cost is in the area of $5K. -- Click Here for CaddyInfo page on "How To" Read Your OBD Codes-- Click Here for my personal page to download my OBD code list as an Excel file, plus other Cadillac data -- See my CaddyInfo car blogs: 2011 CTS-V, 1997 ETC Yes, I was Jims_97_ETC before I changed cars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dadillac Posted February 25, 2006 Report Share Posted February 25, 2006 Just in case anyone is interested, a 1 mm overbore, is equivelent to a .040 overbore. Plenty of material for a rebuild. Don "Modern warriors saddle iron horses of chrome." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KHE Posted February 26, 2006 Report Share Posted February 26, 2006 The Northstar can go at least 250,000 miles before it needs rings. There is absolutely no need to bore a Northstar engine - it's not a small block Chevy engine... Even at 250,000 miles, all it would need is a set of rings - just install a new set of rings and timesert it and it's good for at least another 250,000 miles. Kevin '93 Fleetwood Brougham '05 Deville '04 Deville 2013 Silverado Z71 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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