496 HO forged internals?
02-03-2011, 08:16 PM
#1
Registered
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Thousand Oaks, Ca
Posts: 202
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
496 HO forged internals?
Hello all,
How, if possible w/o tearing engine apart, can I tell if the engine has forged internals or not? Is it possible to tell from the serial number, etc?
Thanks in advance!
How, if possible w/o tearing engine apart, can I tell if the engine has forged internals or not? Is it possible to tell from the serial number, etc?
Thanks in advance!
02-03-2011, 08:54 PM
#2
Gold Member
Gold Member
None of the 496 Mag or HO engines had forged pistons. Only a small amount around or before 2002 had forged cranks. Either way, the pistons are the weak point so it doesnt matter if you have a forged or cast crank.
02-04-2011, 03:27 AM
#5
Registered
I was under the impression that some of the early ones did have forged pistons along with the crank and better rods. I know there were only a few, but still thought they had good pistons in a few.
Eddie
Eddie
02-04-2011, 11:48 AM
#6
Registered
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: San Diego, California
Posts: 2,777
Likes: 0
Received 6 Likes
on
6 Posts
Whats really in there?
Nope, sorry to say all the early 2001 - 2003 496's had same pressed pin /small forged rods and cast hyper-eutectic pistons.
In 2001 a few still got out with GM's early forged crankshaft, but the bean counters at GM decided it was to expensive and resorted back to their nodular cast crank, which by the way is a very strong beast.
None of the 496's GM built between 2000 and 2010 ever had forged pistons and only the 2004 thru 2010 engines had full floating pins.
The good news is that properly treated (no supercharging or lean fuel burn) the stock pistons and rods seem to hold up well and most go many hundreds of hours without any issues or problems.
We just received in to our shop two customer engines from a 28' Daytona that we installed our Raylar 525 kits on back in 2004 that had 578 hours of hard high rpm use and good maintenance. The customer is having us upgrade the engines to our HO625 spec. We opened the engines and found everything inside in beautiful condition with no real bore wear of issues, bearings looked brand new and the Raylar heads, cam and valve train looked like we just installed it!
I am now more firmly convinced than ever that the stock block 8.1L -496 engine that GM produced with its cast pistons is the best big block production engine GM has ever produced! It sometimes gets a bad rap from boaters and users who abuse the stock block with (supercharging) bad fuel and poorly maintained fuel and oil systems, over-speeds, overheats and ignoring Guardian alarms telling them they need to stop and check and make repairs as needed. Take good care of your stock block Merc 496 and it will take care of you!
Best Regards,
Ray @ Raylar
In 2001 a few still got out with GM's early forged crankshaft, but the bean counters at GM decided it was to expensive and resorted back to their nodular cast crank, which by the way is a very strong beast.
None of the 496's GM built between 2000 and 2010 ever had forged pistons and only the 2004 thru 2010 engines had full floating pins.
The good news is that properly treated (no supercharging or lean fuel burn) the stock pistons and rods seem to hold up well and most go many hundreds of hours without any issues or problems.
We just received in to our shop two customer engines from a 28' Daytona that we installed our Raylar 525 kits on back in 2004 that had 578 hours of hard high rpm use and good maintenance. The customer is having us upgrade the engines to our HO625 spec. We opened the engines and found everything inside in beautiful condition with no real bore wear of issues, bearings looked brand new and the Raylar heads, cam and valve train looked like we just installed it!
I am now more firmly convinced than ever that the stock block 8.1L -496 engine that GM produced with its cast pistons is the best big block production engine GM has ever produced! It sometimes gets a bad rap from boaters and users who abuse the stock block with (supercharging) bad fuel and poorly maintained fuel and oil systems, over-speeds, overheats and ignoring Guardian alarms telling them they need to stop and check and make repairs as needed. Take good care of your stock block Merc 496 and it will take care of you!
Best Regards,
Ray @ Raylar
The following users liked this post:
wwwTOPDJcom (01-30-2021)
