As most know, i had a bit of a setback with my car this last week... the newly assembled motor went into the car, and after 3 miles or so of driving, it began knocking... not a great sign. This all happened very shortly after this pic was taken:



This happened on Friday... So, i decided it'd be best to take the weekend off, regroup my thoughts, clear my head, and more importantly..... calm down



Bright and early this morning though, it was a whole 'nother story.

In the morning, Tom and I began pulling the motor out of the car.... By the way, some of you guys know Tom, others don't... but he works here at the shop. Without his help, none of this would be possible. I can still fabricate, and back in the day was a hell of a wrench, but these days physical complications in my hands prevent me from doing too much wrench turning, and there is no way i could do a full swap like this in one day by myself without my hands freezing up and not being able to move them practically... i'd need to stop and rest too much throughout the day... so THANK YOU TOM!

So, heres the motor out... again...




And here is what i saw after we tore the motor down all the way... this is the #5 main bearing:



Which of course feeds oil to the #4 rod bearing:




BASICALLY, it looks like a bad oil starvation issue... i'm not sure if it was a trapped air bubble, or something like that.. i'm not even sure if that is possible.

But there IS good news... the biggest, is that i caught it early enough that the bearing did not spin... it was well on its way to doing so, but it did not. What that means, is that the rods and block are in fine shape, and do not need any machining.. the only casualty is the crank.

So, the crank is at the machine shop as i speak getting fast-tracked, and i should have it back tomorrow. I've got new headgasket, main bolts, rod bolts and stuff on the way, and barring any major issues otherwise, the motor should be able to go back together and be running once again by the end of the day.

There are a few guesses as to what could have happened... and i'm not really sure what went wrong. I blew out all of the oil passages on the block, head, and even disassembled the oil pump, and i couldn't find a culprit anywhere... but its obvious that there was a lot less oil pressure at the back of the motor than in the front.

So i'm gun-shy about mods at this point, and am going to be removing the oil pan and reinstalling the stock one. I can't really see how the baffling could have caused this, but i'm not going to risk it right this second... i'll deal with that can of apples later.





Now... while the car is in the air though, i finally got a picture of a couple of other things that i did that some people wanted better pics of....



First off, my springs. I got some new springs from Swift, and mated them to some Hypercoil helper springs with a billet aluminum separator/collar.... this way, when i jack the car up, or they become decompressed, the spring will still be under constant pressure (however slight) so that the spring won't come loose, and fall over or make it so that the spring sits crooked when i set the car back down. That damages the shock bodies, and if left unnoticed, can severaly affect the handling of the car....





Next up, is the 'Panducky Bend'... This mod could be done to the AEM intakes as well, but it is basically an extra 90-degree bend that lets you mount the filter in the grille, where it can get a lot of really good, clean, and cool air... and with another 90-degree turn and a velocity stack, you could get a good bit of forced air

don't mind the pie-cut bends... i really didn't feel like spending another $80 for another 90-deg bend when i ran out... lol!








And here is the rest of the pipe that goes up to the TB...




Anyway.... more to come tomorrow... we can start getting this sucker in and running again... hopefully. lol!

 

wow... very cool

 

Good luck with everything.

 

Panducky, has anyone ever told you that you are a mad scientist when it comes to cars and engines?

 

good thing you caught it early otherwise it would be a completely new engine and starting over .

 

hmm, so you blew out the oil passeges after you took the motor apart. did you do this prior to the build? did you turn the new motor over a few times prior to starting to get oil pressure up? did you put in enough fresh oil? was assembly lube used during the build?

i am just throwing stuff out there to think about. i met you at the lakeland autocross and told you i like the ruckus build up. i also posted all the pics of the various aftermarket baffled oil pans in your previous oil pan thread. i like what you do, so i am only trying to help.

best of luck with this build.

matt

 

May be your crank is blent!!!! good luck

 

Sin: haha! Well, being a mad scientist is cool and all, but every now and then it has to work to... lol!


John: Yep... wasn't looking forward to that prospect, thats for sure!

RZ: Hey Matt! Yea, it was nice to meet you in Lakeland! And no worries about the questions... i know you're trying to help




hmm, so you blew out the oil passeges after you took the motor apart. did you do this prior to the build?

Yep... especially since the crank and block was just at the machine shop.



did you turn the new motor over a few times prior to starting to get oil pressure up?

Yep... again, a 'standard practice' sort of thing for me....



did you put in enough fresh oil?

Yep... did a complete oil change after the first warm up even, including new oem oil filter.



was assembly lube used during the build?

Yep

 

damn john that sucks,at least you caught it early.

 

that bumble bee of yours will have a nasty sting.