Interesting.. I just built a cut away GM Ecotec motor for this very purpose. It was a PITA. But I can see where engine design has gone with this engine. It is light, and it is pretty strong. Easy repair features are the slip in liners, so no need to bore this engine, just replace a liner when/if it is damaged.
The motor died from hydrolock, and one rod is bent up pretty good. That caused the piston skirts to strike the crankshaft counterweights, and damage the piston, but not so much that the engine quit running, it was just very noisy, and ran like crap with only 3 cyc. working correctly.
I was impressed that the bearings held up very well, with the exception of the hydrolocked rod bearings. They only showed signs of wear, due to the twisting effect of the bent rod.
The oil was full/mixed with water, and had lost it's ability to lubricate well, but the pump, pickup and other oil system related parts on this motor are so over built, it continued to work fine. (This engine uses a crank driven pump, similar to the JZ engines v/s the twin gear pump driven off a seperate drive and the timing belt.)
It has dual counter balancers to keep it smooth, and uses two timing chains. One runs things like the balancers and water pump, and another that is slightly larger, for the cam sprockets. They are oiled by spray/drip from the chain tensioners that have oil pistons, and by oil drain from the cyc. head cams. All in all, nice, as it would go 200k or more with no need to replace the chains due to wear, especially if good oil is used/changed.
One interesting aspect of most new motors is the one piece main cap/girdle. This one was aluminum, and used 6 bolts per "main" so it appears to be very strong. The bearings have a very thick backing plate, to add resistance to being bent into the softer aluminum main cap/girdle.
I can see how this engine can handle 1000hp with the right crank, rods and pistons. Also the stock head gasket is a multilayer steel one. Nice. Good cooling design as well. Same goes for the head.
Makes me want to build one up, and then shove 30psi down it's throat!
