KADE rebuild questions

[Blackzenki82]

so i have question for ya.... being a guy that knows minor mechanical things, brakes, alt starters, nothing too in depth, only thing i've done inside a motor was removing the timing chain guides, and even then i was nervous. the main question at hand is, how hard is it exactly to rebuild the KA, and what are the realistic costs therein. i was thinking of pulling my motor, and DDing my Tahoe while i rebuild the engine myself, but I'm not too sure how to go about doing that...

i know some of you may say, "oh the KA is super easy to rebuild" and that's after your 5th engine, this will be my first ever tear down and rebuild of any engine except a moped when i was 15, and it never ran right after that, still ran though... and i want to try to avoid any war stories. Also my funds are VERY limited at this point due to the fact that i got laid off a little over 5 weeks ago and the job market here sucks balls....

anyways, i want to clean the whole bay up, maybe respray it and have my motor look clean (paint, powder coated) and to remove the emissions stuff correctly....

I'm just cautious because i don't want to end up with a shiny car, with no motor cause i tore it out and f'd it up.... thanks for the time to read all this... i may copy and past it out in other forums cause it about covers most of my questions

so, realistically speaking, for a guy like myself, with minimal internal engine work exp, how hard and long would this "procedure be? remember, i have no job and all the time in the world. i know i want to rebuild it, even though it's currently running, and running fine, and to get it somewhat set up for boost, but at this point i cant afford the forged pieces unless i get em from a part out or "second hand".... do i need all that? do i need it bored? or just honed? decked? milled? and how bout the head? is that easy? I'd like some port/polish work, and some valves, springs, retainers (that stuff I'm pretty sure i can do myself) .... I'm just cautious because i don't want to end up with a shiny car, with no motor cause i tore it out and f'd it up.... thanks for the time to read all this... i may copy and past it out in other forums cause it about covers most of my questions

and i have searched, but get all kinds of conflicting info...

[drftthatshit]

the KA is easy to pull out. Just find all the bolts that hold the shit into the car, and remove them pull the engine out and get to work! Also you can get stock parts and rebuild the engine with that but!!! if you wana boost dont go over 7psi on a stock rebuild you might wana think of lowering the compression ratio? rods? Bottem end? really it all aint that complicated.

[sac]

Are you looking to just change the headgasket? Or are you wanting to go with new forged pistons?

I have a buddy that did this that was very reasonable in price

Bore out to .002 over.. $75 (more of just a hone)
Forged pistons $500
Headgasket set $100
Cometic Headgasket $90
machine OEM rods $100
clean/paint/replace freeze plugs $110
mill head/check for leaks $110
port and polish head $200
OEM timing set $300
main and rod bearings $110
Arp head studs $100

that came to roughly $1800. He opted to pay a guy $200 at machine shop to assemble the engine and everything. And its running great. Could he have skimped out on a couple things.. Ya. But if ya skimp out on stuff now it could cost ya more $ down the road.

I also sent ya a pm as well.

[jwinter]

I just finished rebuilding a 95 KA and I would say that it wasn't too bad. However, if your engine is working fine now, then why not save up a little bit more money until you can afford the better internals? Unless you are planning on rebuilding it once to see if you can do it, then the second time to do it right with all the good parts. Just remenber that even a stock rebuild will cost you a pretty good amount of money.