the22driver

Changed the oil in my new to me, 2000 Z28 and found these, any ideas?
It is a 30,000 mile car that had a semi hard life as a drag and burnout car.
It is 100% stock and very clean except said parts in the oil.
I have two questions, what is it and should I run it in a trackday this weekend?
It makes zero funny noises and runs very good!
Thanks in advance for your help

Z284U2TRY

iTrader: (5)

Looks like valve spring I would not run it.

the22driver

Thank you, that was one of the things i thought. I have a set of LS6 springs, if I changed them out, and got all the visible parts out, would you run it or should I pull it and go through it?

Jon@Texas-Speed

iTrader: (18)

Yeah looks like part of a spring. I would change the oil again and see if anything else comes out of it. If everything else looks good and you want to chance it, run it. I'm sure you haven't been babying it since ya got it and if the oil comes out clean then ya at least have a 50/50 shot that all the pieces are out of it!

If ya decide to pull it apart let us know and we'll get you fixed up with everything you need to put it back together!

Jon

***Just to clarify, if the broken springs are still in the motor then you need to replace them. If the parts are from previous springs, then see if the oil looks good and go from there.***

supersick99z

iTrader: (66)

Valve spring pieces! I changed my oil last weekend and pulled out 26 rocker arm bearings haha! But I knew mine was from a previous break. Easiest thing to do is get a socket and wrench and take off the valve covers.

TooLateVTEC

iTrader: (2)

Remove valve covers and start removing valve springs...looks like a piece of spring to me also.

I would only run it this weekend if you want a whole new motor on monday, lol.

NVR_SPDS

iTrader: (39)

Thats all bad! Check those springs, because dropping a valve can get real ugly REAL fast!!!

SuperSport01

Definitly looks like pieces of valvespring wire. If its still running well I would consider yourself lucky and replace the valvesprings.

the22driver

Thanks for all the input!
Ok so I pulled both valve covers (these are a m&*^er F^&&^$ to work on in street trim) and I can't see anything obviously wrong? No pieces of metal, no missing spring parts, nothing! Do I just start taking springs apart till I find something or would it be obvious? Or should I put it back together and move on?
Thanks again

TooLateVTEC

iTrader: (2)

I would pull the rockers off and with a light-to-medium swing of a hammer hit on the retainers.

The best way is to remove the spark plugs and make a fitting that screws into the plug hole (or use the hose from a leak down tester set) and hook compressed air into the chamber, then smack them 1 cylinder at a time. That way if you do find a broken spring the valve wont fall into the hole.

Or use a flash light and a screwdriver to pry on one spring at a time and look closely at it with the light while your doing to find it. With pieces like that I wouldnt think it would be too hard to find where it came from ?

Do you know if the springs are new, maybe the previous owner broke one and the pieces never came out until you bought it?

Good luck

Jon@Texas-Speed

iTrader: (18)

I would pull one off at a time. Look both at the top and bottom of the spring. If it looks good, throw it back on and go to the next one!

Jon

vettenuts

iTrader: (4)

I would swap all the springs. You are not going to see anything unless you remove them. If you remove them, replace them. We are not talking about million dollar parts here and the cost of a failure is much more.

the22driver

Replaced all the springs on the driver bank with Comp 26918 (Huge Thank You to Jon Reynolds from Texas Speed for all your help, for a guy who wasn't able to buy from you! Quality dude and he will have my parts business from now on!) All of the intake springs were missing those little pieces I found, it is amazing that everyone of these that is driven even moderately hard doesn't have this problem?

I am wondering if it would have been ok to run for the weekend as it looks like it was minimal pieces missing on an end?
Oh well they are out now....on to the harder Pass side (stupid heater box! I can't wait till this thing is a stripped!)

Spring on the left is intake not a great pic and if you look at the machining marks you can see where the broken one stops farther apart.

Again thanks so much for the help!

the22driver

Just finished! Fired right up, ran it for twenty minutes or so to get it up to temp, sounds great! I changed the oil again...no extra parts! Yaa Hoo!
Thanks Again!