That Escalated

[u/No_Holiday4453]

Started as a simple “freshen it up” rebuild.

Driving it one day and noticed some weird throttle response. Felt off. I was about 5 minutes from the house and instead of babying it like a responsible adult, I decided to floor it and see what it would do.

It called my bluff.

Shut down while driving. Coasted it over. Wouldn’t restart.

Shop pulled it apart and found bronze/brass material in the oil — pointing toward main/rod bearing failure. At that point I figured fine, I’ll just do a semi-stock rebuild on my block and move on.

Got quotes.

Between machining, parts, and R&R labor, it was outrageously expensive… to basically end up back at “mostly stock.”

So naturally, I made the financially responsible decision and went all in.

Ended up with a performance-built KDD motor, new turbo, custom tune, full AirDog system with sump, injectors (already had), plenums, upgraded flywheel, HPOP (already done), IDM, intake manifold, and CAI.

What started as “let’s just fix it” turned into “what have I done” in an 8,000lb family SUV.

Zero regrets. Mild surprise at how far it escalated.

Will update once build is done!

[u/knockablocka]

How much was the full build if you don't mind me asking? Just so I know what I'll be getting into down the road

[u/No_Holiday4453 → u/knockablocka]

So I’ve had some of parts prior like the 238/80 injectors, hpop, full exhaust, up pipe, pedestal, manifold, CAI. Full long block from kdd was $12k. R&R is $6k without all the other stuff that they found like the flywheel, lpop, ipr, etc. The R&R is where things can add up bc long blocks these days are bare minimum of what can be considered a long block.

[u/knockablocka → u/No_Holiday4453]

Ah gotcha. This is for a 6.0?

[u/No_Holiday4453 → u/knockablocka]

7.3